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THE 


CHOICE WOMS OF COOPER. 


KEVISED AND CORRECTED SERIES. 


WITH 

NEW INTRODUCTIONS, NOTES, ETd 


VOL. XX. 


THE SEA LIONS. 



HE SEA LIONS; 


THE LOST SEALERS. 


J.'^ENIMORE COOPER. 


Daughter of Faith, awake, arise, illume 
The dread unknown, the chaos of the tomb ; 

Melt, and dispel, ye spectre doubts that roll 
Cimmerian darkness o’er the parting soul 1 

Campbell. 




COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME. 

WITH THE LATEST REVISION AND CORRECTIONS OF THE AUTHOR. 


NEW YORK: 

STRINGER & TOWNSEND 

1 85 6 . 


TZ3 

. C tsl 

‘Djl. 

r 


Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1856, by 
STEINGER & TOWNSEND, 

In the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern 

District of New York. 


'• r 


R. C. Valentine, Storeotyper. 


John F. Trow, Printer. 


PREFACE. 


If any thing connected with the hardness of the 
human heart could surprise us, it surely would be the 
indifference with which men live on, engrossed by their 
worldly objects, amid the sublime natural phenomena 
that so eloquently and unceasingly speak to their imagi- 
nations, affections, and judgments. So completely is 
the existence of the individual concentrated in self, and 
so regardless does he get to be of all without that con- 
tracted circle, that it does not probably happen to one 
man in ten that his thoughts are drawn aside from this 
intense study of his own immediate wants, wishes, and 
plans, even once in the twenty-four hours, to contemplate 
the majesty, mercy, truth, and justice, of the Divine 
Being that has set him, as an atom, amid the myriads 
of the hosts of heaven and earth. 

The physical marvels of the universe produce little 
more reflection than the profoundest moral truths. A 
million of eyes shall pass over the firmament on a 
cloudless night, and not a hundred minds shall be filled 
with a proper sense of the power of the dread Being 
that created all that is there — not a hundred hearts glow 
with the adoration that such an appeal to the senses and 
understanding ought naturally to produce. This indif- 
ference, in a great measure, comes of familiarity ; the 
things that we so constantly have before us becoming 
as a part of the air we breathe, and as little regarded. 


6 


PREFACE. 


One of the consequences of this disposition to disre- 
gard the Almighty Hand, as it is so plainly visible in 
all around us, is that of substituting our own powers in 
its stead. In this period of the world, in enlightened 
countries, and in the absence of direct idolatry, few men 
are so hardy as to deny the existence and might of a 
Supreme Being ; but, this fact admitted, how few really 
feel that profound reverence for him that the nature of 
our relations justly demands ! It is the want of a due 
sense of humility, and a sad misconception of what we 
are, and for what we were created, that misleads us in 
the due estimate of our own insignificance, as compared 
with the majesty of God. 

Yery few men attain enough of human knowledge to 
be fully aware how much remains to be learned, and of 
that which they never can hope to acquire. We hear 
a great deal of god-like minds, and of the far-reaching 
faculties we possess ; and it may all be worthy of our 
eulogiums, until we compare ourselves in these, as in 
other particulars, with Him who produced them. Then, 
indeed, the utter insignificance of our means becomes 
too apparent to admit of a cavil. We know that we are 
born, and that we die ; science has been able to grapple 
with all the phenomena of these two great physical 
facts, with the exception of the most material of all — 
those which should tell us what is life, and what is death. 
Something that we cannot comprehend lies at the root 
of every distinct division of natural phenomena. Thus 
far shalt thou go and no farther, seems to be imprinted 
on every great fact of creation. There is a point at- 
tained in each and all of our acquisitions, where a 
mystery that no human mind can scan takes the place 
of demonstration and conjectime. This point may lie 


PREFACE. 


7 


more remote with some intellects than with others ; but 
it exists for all, arrests the inductions of all, conceals all. 

We are aware that the more learned among those 
who disbelieve in the divinity of Christ suppose them- 
selves to be sustained by written authority, contending 
for errors of translation, mistakes and misapprehensions 
in the ancient texts. Nevertheless, we are inclined to 
think that nine-tenths of those who refuse the old and 
accept the new opinion, do so for a motive no better 
than a disinclination to believe that which they cannot 
comprehend. This pride of reason is one of the most 
insinuating of our foibles, and is to be watched as a 
most potent enemy. 

How completely and philosophically does the vener- 
able Christian creed embrace and modify all these work- 
ings of the heart ! We say philosophically, for it were 
not possible for mind to give a juster analysis of the 
whole subject than St. Paul’s most comprehensive but 
brief definition of Faith. It is this Faith which forms 
the mighty feature of the church on earth. It equali- 
zes capacities, conditions, means, and ends, holding out 
the same encouragement and hope to the least, as to the 
most gifted of the race ; counting gifts in their ordinary 
and more secular points of view. 

It is when health, or the usual means of success aban- 
don us, that we are made to feel how totally we are 
insufficient for the achievement of even our own pur- 
poses, much less to qualify us to reason on the deep 
mysteries that conceal the beginning and the end. It 
has often been said that the most successful leaders of 
their fellow-men have had the clearest views of their 
own insufficiency to attain their own objects. If Na- 
poleon ever said, as has been attributed to him, Je 


8 


PREFACE. 


prc^ose et je dispose^'^^ it must have been in one of those 
fleeting moments in which success blinded him to the 
fact of his own insufiiciency. No man had a deeper 
reliance on fortune, cast the result of great events on 
the decrees of fate, or more anxiously watched the rising 
and setting of what he called his “ star.” This was a 
faith that could lead to no good ; but it clearly denoted 
how far the boldest designs, the most ample means, and 
the most vaulting ambition, fall short of giving that 
sublime consciousness of power and its fruits that dis- 
tinguish the reign of Omnipotence. 

In this book the design has been to portray man on 
a novel fleld of action, and to exhibit his dependence 
on the hand that does not suffer a sparrow to fall un- 
heeded. The recent attempts of science, which employed 
the seamen of the four greatest maritime states of 
Christendom, made discoveries that have rendered the 
polar circles much more familiar to this age than to 
any that has preceded it, so far as existing records 
show. We say “existing records;” for there is much 
reason for believing that the ancients had a knowledge 
of our hemisphere, though less for supposing that they 
ever braved the dangers of the high latitudes. Many 
are, just at this moment, much disposed to believe that 
“ Ophir” was on this continent ; though for a reason no 
better than the circumstance of the recent discoveries 
of much gold. Such savans should remember that 
“peacocks” came from ancient Ophir. If this be in 
truth that land, the adventurers of Israel caused it to 
be denuded of that bird of beautiful plumage. 

Such names as those of Parry, Sabine, Ross, Frank- 
lin, Wilkes, Hudson, Ringgold, &c., &c., with those of 
divers gallant Frenchmen and Russians, command our 


preface. 


9 


most profound respect ; for no battles or victories can 
redound more to the credit of seamen than the dangers 
they all encountered, and the conquests they have all 
achieved. One of those named, a resolute and expe- 
rienced seaman, it is thought must, at this moment, be 
locked in the frosts of the arctic circle, after having 
passed half a life in the endeavor to push his discover- 
ies into those remote and frozen regions. He bears the 
name of the most distinguished of the philosophers of 
this country ; and nature has stamped on his features — 
by one of those secret laws which just as much baffle 
our means of comprehension, as the greatest of all our 
mysteries, the incarnation of the Son of God — a resem- 
blance that, of itself, would go to show that they are of 
the same race. Any one who has ever seen this im- 
prisoned navigator, and who is familiar with the coun- 
tenances of the men of the same name who are to be 
found in numbers amongst ourselves, must be struck 
with a likeness that lies as much beyond the grasp of 
that reason of which we are so proud, as the sublimest 
facts taught by induction, science, or revelation. Parties 
are, at this moment, out in search of him and his fol- 
lowers; and it is to be hoped that the Providence 
which has so singularly attempered the different circles 
and zones of our globe, placing this under a burning 
sun, and that beneath enduring frosts, will have inclu- 
ded in its divine forethought a sufflcient cfwe for these 
bold wanderera to restore them, unharmed, to their 
friends and country. In a contrary event, their names 
must be transmitted to posterity as the victims to a 
laudable desire to enlarge the circle of human knowl- 
edge, and with it, we trust, to increase the glory due 
to God. 


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THE SEA LIONS 


CHAPTER I. 

“ When that’s gone, 

He shall drink naught but brine.” 

Tempest. 

While there is less of that high polish in America that is 
obtained by long intercourse with the great world, than is to 
be found in nearly every European country, there is much less 
positive rusticity also. There, the extremes of society are 
widely separated, repelling rather than attracting each other ; 
while among ourselves, the tendency is to gravitate towards a 
common centre. Thus it is, that all things in America be- 
come subject to a mean law that is productive of a mediocrity 
which is probably much above the average of that of most 
nations ; possibly of all, England excepted ; but which is only 
a mediocrity after all. In this way, excellence in nothing is 
justly appreciated, nor is it often recognized ; and the suffrages 
of the nation are pretty uniformly bestowed on qualities of a 
secondary class. Numbers have sway, and it is as impossible to 
resist them in deciding on merit, as it is to deny their power 
in the ballot-boxes ; time alone, with its great curative in- 
fluence, supplying the remedy that is to restore the public 
mind to a healthful state, and give equally to the pretender 
and to him who is worthy of renown, his proper place in the 
pages of history. 

The activity of American life, the rapidity and cheapness 
of intercourse, and the migratory habits both have induced, 


12 


THE SEA LIONS. 


leave little of rusticity and local character in any particular 
sections of the country. Distinctions, that an acute observer 
may detect, do certainly exist between the eastern and the 
western man, between the northerner and the southerner, the 
Yankee and middle states’ man ; the Bostonian, Manhattanese, 
and Philadelphian ; the Tuckahoe and the Cracker ; the Buck- 
eye or Wolverine, and the Jersey Blue. Nevertheless, the world 
cannot probably produce another instance of a people who are 
derived from so many different races, and who occupy so large 
an extent of country, who are so homogeneous in appearance, 
characters, and opinions. There is no question that the insti- 
tutions have had a material influence in producing this uni- 
formity, while they have unquestionably lowered the standard 
to which opinion is submitted, by referring the decisions to 
the many, instead of making the appeal to the few, as is else- 
where done. Still, the direction is onward, and though it may 
take time to carve on the social column of America that grace- 
ful and ornamental capital which it forms the just boast of 
Europe to possess, when the task shall be achieved, the work 
will stand on a base so broad as to secure its upright attitude 
for ages. 

Notwithstanding the general character of identity and ho- 
mogeneity that so strongly marks the picture of American 
society, exceptions are to be met with, in particular districts, 
that are not only distinct and incontrovertible, but which are so 
peculiar as to be worthy of more than a passing remark in our 
delineations of national customs. Our present purpose leads us 
into one of these secluded districts, and it may be well to com- 
mence the narrative of certain deeply-interesting incidents that 
it is our intention to attempt to portray, by first referring to the 
place and people where and from whom the principal actors in 
our legend had their origin. 

Every one at all familiar with the map of America knows 
the position and general form of the two islands that shelter 
the well-known harbor of the great emporium of the commerce 


THE SEA LIONS. 


13 


of the country. These islands obtained their names from the 
Dutch, who called them Nassau and Staten ; but the English, 
with little respect for the ancient house whence the first of 
these appellations is derived, and consulting only the homely 
taste which leads them to a practical rather than to a poetical 
nomenclature in all things, have since virtually dropped the 
name of Nassau, altogether substituting that of Long Island in 
its stead. 

Long Island, or the island of Nassau, extends from the 
mouth of the Hudson to the eastern line of Connecticut ; 
forming a sort of sea-wall to protect the whole coast of the lat- 
ter little territory against the waves of the broad Atlantic. 
Three of the oldest New York counties, as their names would 
imply. Kings, Queens, and Suffolk, are on this island. Kings 
was originally peopled by the Dutch, and still possesses as 
many names derived from Holland as from England, if its 
towns, which are of recent origin, be taken from the account. 
Queens is more of a mixture, having been early invaded and 
occupied by adventurers from the other side of the Sound ; 
but Suffolk, which contains nearly, if not quite, two-thirds of 
the surface of the whole island, is and ever has been in pos- 
session of a people derived originally from the puritans of New 
England. Of these three counties. Kings is much the smallest, 
though, next to New York itself, the most populous county in 
the State ; a circumstance that is owing to the fact that two 
suburban offsets of the great emporium, Brooklyn and Wil- 
liamsburg, happen to stand within its limits, on the waters of 
what is improperly called the East River ; an arm of the sea 
that has obtained this appellation in contradistinction to the 
Hudson, which, as all Manhattanese well know, is as often 
called the North River, as by its proper name. In consequence 
of these two towns, or suburbs of New York, one of which con- 
tains nearly a hundred thousand souls, while the other must be 
drawing on towards twenty thousand. Kings county has lost all 
it ever had of peculiar or local character. The same is true ot 


14 


THE SEA LIONS. 


Queens, thougli in a diminished degree ; but Suffolk remains 
Suffolk still, and it is with Suffolk alone that our present legend 
requires us to deal. Of Suffolk, then, we propose to say a few 
words by way of preparatory explanation. 

Although it has actually more sea-coast than all the rest of 
New York united, Suffolk has but one seaport that is ever 
mentioned beyond the limits of the county itself. Nor is this 
port one of general commerce, its shipping being principally 
employed in the hardy and manly occupation of whaling. As 
a whaling town. Sag Harbor is the third or fourth port in the 
country, and maintains something like that rank in importance. 
A whaling haven is nothing without a whaling community. 
Without the last, it is almost hopeless to look for success. 
New York can, and has often fitted whalers for sea, having 
sought officers in the regular whaling ports ; but it has been 
seldom that the enterprises have been rewarded with such re- 
turns as to induce a second voyage by the same parties. 

It is as indispensable that a whaler should possess a certain 
esprit de corps, as that a regiment, or a ship of war, should be 
animated by its proper spirit. In the whaling communities, 
this spirit exists to an extent and in a degree that is wonderful, 
when one remembers the great expansion of this particular 
branch of trade within the last five-and-twenty years. It may 
be a little lessened of late, but at the time of which we are 
writing, or about the year 1820, there was scarcely an indi- 
vidual who followed this particular calling out of the port of 
Sag Harbor, whose general standing on board ship was not as 
well known to all the women and girls of the place, as it was 
to his shipmates. Success in taking the whale was a thing 
that made itself felt in every fibre of the prosperity of the 
town ; and it was just as natural that the single-minded popu- 
lation of that part of Suffolk should regard the bold and skilful 
harpooner or lancer with favor, as it is for the belle at a water- 
ing-place to bestow her smiles on one of the young heroes of 
Contreras or Cherubusco. His peculiar merit, whether with 


THE SEA LIONS. 


15 


the oar, lance, or harpoon, is bruited about, as well as the 
number of whales he may have succeeded in “making fast 
to,” or those which he caused to “ spout blood.” It is true, 
that the great extension of the trade within the last twenty 
years, by drawing so many from a distance into its pursuits, 
has in a degree lessened this local interest and local knowledge 
of character ; but at the time of which we are about to write, 
both were at their height, and Nantucket itself had not more 
of this “intelligence office” propensity, or more of the true 
whaling esprit de corps, than were to be found in the district of 
country that surrounded Sag Harbor. 

Long Island forks at its eastern end, and may be said to 
have two extremities. One of these, which is much the short- 
est of the two legs thus formed, goes by the name of Oyster 
Pond Point ; while the other, that stretches much farther in 
the direction of Blok Island, is the well-known cape called 
Montauk. Within the fork lies Shelter Island, so named from 
the snug berth it occupies. Between Shelter Island and the 
longest or southern prong of the fork, are the waters which 
compose the haven of Sag Harbor — an estuary of some extent ; 
while a narrow but deep arm of the sea separates this island 
from the northern prong, that terminates at Oyster Pond. 

The name of Oyster Pond Point was formerly applied to a 
long, low, fertile, and pleasant reach of land, that extended 
several miles from the point itself, westward, towards the spot 
where the two prongs of the fork united. It was not easy, 
during the first quarter of the present century, to find a more 
secluded spot on the whole island than Oyster Pond. Recent 
♦ enterprises have since converted it into the terminus of a rail- 
road ; and Green Port, once called Sterling, is a name well- 
known to travellers between New York and Boston j but in 
the earlier part of the present century it. seemed just as likely 
that the Santa Casa of Loretto should take a new flight and 
descend on the point, as that the improvement that has ac- 
tually been made should in truth occur at that out-of-the- 


16 


THE SEA LIONS. 


way place. It required, indeed, the keen eye of a railroad 
projector to bring this spot in connection with any thing ; 
nor could it be done without having recourse to the water 
by which it is almost surrounded. Using the last, it is true, 
means have been found to place it in a line between two of the 
great marts of the country, and thus to put an end to all its 
seclusion, its simplicity, its peculiarities, and we had almost 
said, its happiness. 

It is to us ever a painful sight to see the rustic virtues 
rudely thrown aside by the intrusion of what are termed im- 
provements. A railroad is certainly a capital invention for the 
traveller, but it may be questioned if it is of any other benefit 
than that of pecuniary convenience to the places through 
which it passes. How many delightful hamlets, pleasant vil- 
lages, and even tranquil country towns, are losing their primi- 
tive characters for simplicity and contentment, by the passage 
of these fiery trains, that drag after them a sort of bastard 
elegance, a pretension that is destructive of peace of mind, 
and an uneasy desire in all who dwell by the wayside, to pry 
into the mysteries of the whole length and breadth of the 
region it traverses ! 

We are writing of the year of our Lord one thousand eight 
hundred and nineteen. In that day, Oyster Pond was, in one 
of the best acceptations of the word, a rural district. It is true 
that its inhabitants were accustomed to the water, and to the 
sight of vessels, from the two-decker to the little shabby-look- 
ing craft that brought ashes from town, to meliorate the sandy 
lands of Suffolk. Only five years before, an English squadron 
had lain in Gardiner’s Bay, here pronounced “ Gar’ner’s,” # 
watching the Race, or eastern outlet of the Sound, with a \iew 
to cut off the trade and annoy their enemy. That game is up 
forever. No hostile squadron, English, French, Dutch, or all 
united, will ever again blockade an American port for any 
serious length of time — the young Hercules passing too rapidly 
from the gristle 'into the bone, any longer to suffer antics of 


THE SEA LIONS. 


17 


this nature to be played in front of his cradle. But such was 
not his condition in the war of 1812, and the good people of 
Oyster Pond had become familiar with the checkered sides of 
two-deck ships, and the venerable and beautiful ensign of Old 
England, as it floated above them. 

Nor was it only by these distant views, and by means of 
hostilities, that the good folk of Oyster Pond were acquainted 
with vessels. New York is necessary to all on the coast, both 
as a market and as a place to procure supplies ; and every 
creek, or inlet, or basin, of any sort, within a hundred leagues 
of it, is sure to possess one or more craft that ply between the 
favorite haven and the particular spot in question. Thus was 
it with Oyster Pond. There is scarce a better harbor on the 
whole American coast, than that which the narrow arm of the 
sea that divides the Point from Shelter Island presents ; and 
even in the simple times of which we are writing. Sterling had 
its two or three coasters, such as they were. But the true 
maritime character of Oyster Pond, as well as that of all Suf- 
folk, was derived from the whalers, and its proper nucleus was 
across the estuary, at Sag Harbor. Thither the youths of the 
whole region resorted for employment, and to advance their for- 
tunes, and generally with such success as is apt to attend en- 
terprise, industry, and daring, when exercised with energy in a 
pursuit of moderate gains. None became rich, in the strict 
signification of the term, though a few got to be in reasonably 
affluent circumstances ; many were placed altogether at their 
ease, and more were made humbly comfortable. A farm in 
America is well enough for the foundation of family support, 
but it rarely suffices for all the growing wants of these days of 
indulgence, and of a desire to enjoy so much of that which was 
formerly left to the undisputed possession of the unquestionably 
rich. A farm, with a few hundreds per annum^ derived from 
other sources, makes a good base of comfort ; and if the hun- 
dreds are converted into thousands, your farmer or agricul- 
turist becomes a man not only at his ease, but a proprietor of 


18 


THE SEA LIONS. 


some importance. The farms on Oyster Pond were neither 
very extensive, nor had they owners of large incomes to sup- 
port them ; on the contrary, most of them were made to sup- 
port their owners ; a thing that is possible, even in America, 
with industry, frugality, and judgment. In order, however, 
that the names of places we may have occasion to use shall be 
understood, it may be well to be a little more particular in our 
preliminary explanation. 

The reader knows that we are now writing of Suffolk county. 
Long Island, New York. He also knows that our opening 
scene is to be on the shorter, or most northern of the two 
prongs of that fork which divides the eastern end of this 
island, giving it what are properly two capes. The smallest 
territorial division that is known to the laws of New York, in 
rural districts, is the “ township,” as it is called. These town- 
ships are usually larger than the English parish, coiTesponding 
more properly with the French canton. They vary, however, 
greatly in size, some containing as much as a hundred square 
miles, which is the largest size, while others do not contain 
more than a tenth of that surface. 

The township in which the northern prong, or point of Long 
Island, lies, is named Southold, and includes not only all of the 
long, low, narrow land that then went by the common names 
of Oyster Pond, Sterling, &c., but several islands also which 
stretch off in the Sound, as well as a broader piece of territory, 
near Riverhead. Oyster Pond, which is the portion of the 
township that lies on the “ point,” is, or vxis — for we write of a 
remote period in the galloping history of the State — only a 
part of Southold, and probably was not then a name known in 
the laws at all. 

We have a wish, also, that this name should be pronounced 
properly. It is not called Oyster Pond^ as the uninitiated 
would be very apt to get it, but Oyster Pund, the last word 
having a sound similar to that of the cockney’s “ pound,” in 
his “ two pund two.” This discrepancy between the spelling 


THE SEA LIONS. 


19 


and the pronunciation of proper names is agreeable to us, for it 
shows that a people are not put in leading-strings by peda- 
gogues, and that they make use of their own in their own 
way. We remember how great was our satisfaction once, on 
entering Holmes’ Hole, a well-known bay in this very vicinity, 
in our youth, to hear a boatman call the port, “Hum’ses 
Hull.” It is getting to be so rare to meet with an American, 
below the higher classes, who will consent to cast this species 
of veil before his school-day acquisitions, that we acknowledge 
it gives us pleasure to hear such good, homely, old-fashioned 
English as “ Gar’ner’s Island,” “ Hum’ses Hull,” and “ Oyster 
Phnd.” 

This plainness of speech was not the only proof of the sim- 
plicity of former days that was to be found in Suffolk, in the 
first quarter of the century. The eastern end of Long Island 
lies so much out of the track of the rest of the world, that even 
the new railroad cannot make much impression on its inhabit- 
ants, who get their pigs and poultry, butter and eggs, a little 
earlier to market than in the days of the stage-wagons, it is 
true, but they fortunately, as yet, bring little back except it be 
the dross that sets every thing in motion, whether it be by rail, 
or through the sands, in the former toilsome mode. 

The season, at the precise moment when we desire to take 
the reader with us to Oyster Pond, was in the delightful month 
of September, when the earlier promises of the year are fast 
maturing into performance. Although Suffolk, as a whole, 
can scarcely be deemed a productive county, being generally of 
a thin, light soil, and still covered with a growth of small wood, 
it possesses, nevertheless, spots of exceeding fertility. A con- 
siderable portion of the northern prong of the fork has this 
latter character, and Oyster Pond is a sort of garden compared 
with much of the sterility that prevails around it. Plain but 
respectable dwellings, with numerous out-buildings, orchards, 
and fruit-trees, fences carefully preserved, .a pains-taking til- 
lage, good roads, and here and there a “ meeting-house,” gave 


20 


THE SEA LIONS. 


the fork an air of rural and moral beauty that, aided by the 
water by which it was so nearly surrounded, contributed 
greatly to relieve the monotony of so dead a level. There 
were heights in view, on Shelter Island, and bluffs towards 
Riverhead, which, if they would not attract much attention 
in Switzerland, were by no means overlooked in Suffolk. In 
a word, both the season and the place were charming, though 
most of the flowers had already faded ; and the apple, and 
the pear, and the peach, were taking the places of the in- 
viting cherry. Fruit abounded, notwithstanding the close 
vicinity of the district to s^t water, the airs from the sea being 
broken, or somewhat tempered, by the land that lay to the 
southward. 

We have spoken of the coasters that ply between the em- 
porium and all the creeks and bays of the Sound, as well as of 
the numberless rivers that And an outlet for their waters be- 
tween Sandy Hook and Rockaway. Wharves were constructed, 
at favorable points, inside the' prong, and occasionally a sloop 
was seen at them loading its truck, or discharging its ashes or 
street manure ; the latter being a very common return cargo 
for a Long Island coaster. At one wharf, however, now lay a 
vessel of a different mould, and one which, though of no great 
size, was manifestly intended to go outside. This was a 
schooner that had been recently launched, and which had ad- 
vanced no farther in its flrst equipment than to get in its two 
principal spars, the rigging of which hung suspended over the 
mast-heads, in readiness to be “ set up” for the flrst time. The 
day being Sunday, work was suspended, and this so much the 
more, because the owner of the vessel was a certain Deacon 
Pratt, who dwelt in a house within half a mile of the wharf, 
and who was also the proprietor of three several parcels of land 
in that neighborhood, each of which had its own buildings and 
conveniences, and was properly enough dignified with the 
name of a farm. To be sure, neither of these farms was very 
large, their acres united amounting to but little more than two 


THE SEA LIONS. 


21 


hundred ; but, owing to their condition, the native richness of 
the soil, and the mode of turning them to account, they had 
made Deacon Pratt a warm man for Suffolk. 

There are two great species of deacons; for we suppose they 
must all be referred to the same genera. One species belong 
to the priesthood, and become priests and bishops ; passing 
1 away, as priests and bishops are apt to do, with more or less of 
the savor of godliness. The other species are purely laymen, 

, and are sui generis. They are, ex-officio,, the most pious men in 
a neighborhood, as they sometimes are, as it would seem to us, 

; ex-officio, also, the most grasping and mercenary. As we are 
not in the secrets of the sects to which these lay deacons be- 
long, we shall not presume to pronounce whether the indi- 
:i vidual is elevated to the deaconate because he is prosperous, in 
I a worldly sense, or whether the prosperity is a consequence of 
|; the deaconate ; but, that the two usually go together is quite 
\, certain ; which being the cause, and which the effect, we leave 
to wiser heads to determine. 

Deacon Pratt was no exception to the rule. A tighter-fisted 
‘ sinner did not exist in the county than this pious soul, who 
certainly not only wore, but wore out the “ form of godliness,” 
while he was devoted, heart and hand, to the daily increase of 
i worldly gear. No one spoke disparagingly of the deacon, 

! notwithstanding. So completely had he got to be interwoven 
; with the church — “ meeting,” we ought to say — in that vicin- 
ity, that speaking disparagingly of him would have appeared 
i like assailing Christianity. It is true, that many an unfortu- 
nate fellow-citizen in Sufiblk had been made to feel how close 
was the gripe of his hand, when he found himself in its grasp ; 
but there is a way of practising the most ruthless extortion, 

\ that serves not only to deceive the world, but which would 
really seem to mislead the extortioner himself. Phrases take 
' the place of deeds, sentiments those of facts, and grimaces 
: those of benevolent looks, so ingeniously and so impudently, 

I that the wronged often fancy that they are the victims of a 


22 


THE SEA LIONS. 


severe dispensation of Providence, when the truth would have 
shown that they were simply robbed. 

We do not mean, however, that Deacon Pratt was a robber. 
He was merely a hard man in the management of his affairs ; 
never cheating, in a direct sense, but seldom conceding a cent 
to generous impulses, or to the duties of kind. He was a wid- 
ower, and childless, circumstances that rendered his love of gain 
still less pardonable; for many a man who is indifferent to 
money on his own account, will toil and save to lay up hoards 
for those who are to come after him. The deacon had only a 
niece to inherit his effects, unless he might choose to step be- 
yond that degree of consanguinity, and bestow a portion of his 
means on cousins. The church — or, to be more literal, the 
“ meeting” — had an eye on his resources, however ; and it was 
whispered it had actually succeeded, by means known to itself, 
in squeezing out of his tight grasp no less a sum than one hun- 
dred dollars, as a donation to a certain theological college. It 
was conjectured by some persons that this was only the begin- 
ning of a religious liberality, and that the excellent and godly- 
minded deacon would bestow most of his property in a similar 
way, when the moment should come that it could be no longer 
of any use to himself. This opinion was much in favor with 
divers devout females of the deacon’s congregation, who had 
daughters of their own, and who seldom failed to conclude their 
observations on this interesting subject with some such remark 
as, “Well, in that case, and it seems to me that every thing 
points that way, Mary Pratt will get no more than any other 
poor man’s daughter.” 

Little did Mary, the only child of Israel Pratt, an elder brother 
of the deacon, think of all this. She had been left an orphan 
in her tenth year, both parents dying within a few months of 
each other, and had lived beneath her uncle’s roof for nearly 
ten more years, until use, and natural affection, and the cus- 
toms of the country, had made her feel absolutely at home 
there. A less interested, or less selfish being than Mary Pratt, 


THE SEA LIONS. 


23 


never existed. In this respect she was the very antipodes of 
her uncle, who often stealthily rebuked her for her charities and 
acts of neighborly kindness, which he was wont to term waste. 
But Mary kept the even tenor of her way, seemingly not hearing 
such remarks, and doing her duty quietly, and in all humility. 

Suffolk was settled originally by emigrants from New Eng- 
land, and the character of its people is, to this hour, of modified 
New England habits and notions. Now, one of the marked pe- 
culiarities of Connecticut is an indisposition to part with any 
thing without a quid pro quo. Those little services, offerings, 
and conveniences that are elsewhere parted with without a 
thought of remuneration, go regularly upon the day-book, and 
often reappear on a “settlement,” years after they have been 
forgotten by those who received the favors. Even the man who 
keeps a carriage, will let it out for hire ; and the manner in 
which money is accepted, and even asked for, by persons in 
easy circumstances, and for things that would be gratuitous in 
the Middle States, often causes disappointment, and sometimes 
disgust. In this particular, Scottish and Swiss thrift, both no- 
torious, and the latter particularly so, are nearly equalled by 
New England thrift ; more especially in the close estimate of 
the value of services rendered. So marked, indeed, is this prac- 
tice of looking for requitals, that even the language is infected 
with it. Thus, should a person pass a few months by invitation 
with a friend, his visit is termed “ boarding it being regarded 
as a matter of course that he pays his way. It would scarcely 
be safe, indeed, without the precaution of “ passing receipts” on 
quitting, for one to stay any time in a New England dwelling, 
unless prepared to pay for his board. The free and frank habits 
that prevail among relatives and friends elsewhere, are nearly 
unknown there, every service having its price. These customs 
are exceedingly repugnant to all who have been educated in 
different notions; yet are they not without their redeeming 
qualities, that might be pointed out to advantage, though our 
limits will not permit us, at this moment, so to do. 


24 


THE SEA LIONS. 


Little did Mary Pratt suspect the truth ; but habit, or covet- 
ousness, or some vague expectation that the girl might yet con- 
tract a marriage that would enable him to claim all his ad- 
vances, had induced the deacon never to bestow a cent on her 
education, or dress, or pleasures of any sort, that the money 
was not regularly charged against her, in that nefarious work 
that he called his “ day-book.” As for the self-respect, and the 
feelings of caste, which prevent a gentleman from practising any 
of these tradesmen’s tricks, the deacon knew nothing of them. 
He would have set the man down as a fool who deferred to any 
notions so unprofitable. With him, not only every man^ but 
every thing “had its price,” and usually it was a good price, 
too. At the very moment when our tale opens, there stood 
charged in his hook, against his unsuspecting and aifectionate 
niece, items in the way of schooling, dress, board, and pocket- 
money, that amounted to the considerable sum of one thousand 
dollars, money fairly expended. The deacon was only intensely 
mean and avaricious, while he was as honest as the day. Hot 
a cent was overcharged ; and to own the truth, Mary was so 
great a favorite with him, that most of his charges against her 
were rather of a reasonable rate than otherwise. 


THE SEA LIONS. 


25 


CHAPTER II. 

“ Marry, I saw your neice do more favors 
To the count’s serving-man, than ever she bestowed 
Upon me ; I saw it i’the orchard.” 

Twelfth Night. 

On the Sunday in question, Deacon Pratt went to meeting 
as usual, the building in which divine service was held that 
day, standing less than two miles from his residence ; but, in- 
stead of remaining for the afternoon’s preaching, as was his 
wont, he got into his one-horse chaise, the vehicle 'then in uni- 
versal use among the middle classes, though now so seldom 
seen, and skirred away homeward as fast as an active, well-fed, 
and powerful switch-tailed mare could draw him ; the animal 
being accompanied in her rapid progress by a colt of some three 
months’ existence. The residence of the deacon was unusually 
inviting for a man of his narrow habits. It stood on the edge 
of a fine apple-orchard, having a door-yard of nearly two acres 
in its front. This door-yard, which had been twice mown that 
summer, was prettily embellished with flowers, and was shaded 
by four rows of noble cherry-trees. The house itself was of 
wood, as is almost uniformly the case in Suffolk, where little 
I stone is to be found, and where brick constructions are apt to 
I be thought damp ; but, it was a respectable edifice, with five 
i- windows in front, and of two stories. The siding was of un- 
j painted cedar-shingles ; and, although the house had been 
I erected long previously to the Revolution, the siding had been 
renewed but once, about ten years before the opening of our 
tale, and the whole building was in a perfect state of repair. 

: The thrift of the deacon rendered him careful, and he was 

2 


20 


THE SEA LIONS. 


thoroughly convinced of the truth of the familiar adage whicli 
tells us that “ a stitch in time saves nine.” All around the house 
and farm was in perfect order, proving the application ot the 
saying. As for the view, it was sufficiently pleasant, the house 
having its front towards the east, while its end windows looked, 
the one set in the direction of the Sound, and the other in that of 
the arm of the sea, which belongs properly to Peconic Bay, we 
believe. All this water, some of which was visible over points 
and among islands, together with a smiling and fertile, though 
nari'OAV stretch of foreground, could not fail of making an agree- 
able landscape. 

It was little, however, that Deacon Pratt thought of views, 
or beauty of any sort, as the mare reached the open gate of his 
own abode. Mary was standing in the stoop, or porch of the 
house, and appeared to be anxiously awaiting her uncle’s re- 
turn. The latter gave the reins to a black, one who was no 
longer a slave, but who was a descendant of some of the ancient 
slaves of the Pratts, and in that character consented still to 
dawdle about the place, working for half price. On alighting, 
the uncle approached the niece with somewhat of interest in 
his manner. 

“Well, Mary,” said the former, “how does he get on now?” 

“ Oh ! my dear sir, he cannot possibly live, I think, and I do 
most earnestly entreat that you will let me send across to the 
Harbor for Dr. Sage.” 

By the Harbor was meant Sag’s, and the physician named 
was one of merited celebrity in old Suffolk. So healthy was 
the country in general, and so simple were the habits of the 
people, that neither lawyer nor physician was to be found in 
every hamlet, as is the case to-day. Both were to be had at 
Riverhead, as well as at Sag Harbor ; but, if a man called out 
“ Squire,” or “ Doctor,” in the highways of Suffolk, sixteen 
men did not turn round to reply, as is said to be the case in 
other regions ; one half answering to the one appellation, and 
the second half to the other. The deacon had two objections 


THE SEA LIONS. 


21 


to yielding to his niece’s earnest request ; the expense being 
one, though it was not, in this instance, the greatest ; there 
was another reason that he kept to himself, but which will ap- 
pear as our narrative proceeds. 

A few weeks previously to the Sunday in question, a sea- 
going vessel, inward bound, had brought up in Gardiner’s Bay, 
which is a usual anchorage for all sorts of craft. A worn-out 
and battered seaman had been put ashore on Oyster Pond, by 
a boat from this vessel, which sailed to the westward soon 
after, proceeding most probably to New York. The stranger 
was not only well advanced in life, but he was obviously wast- 
ing away with disease. 

The account given of himself by this seaman was sufficiently 
explicit. He was born on Martha’s Vineyard, but, as is cus- 
tomary with the boys of that island, he had left home in his 
twelfth year, and had now been absent from the place of his 
birth a little more than half a century. Conscious of the de- 
cay which beset him, and fully convinced that his days were 
few and numbered, the seaman, who called himself Tom 
Daggett, had felt a desire to close his eyes in the place 
where they had first been opened to the light of day. He 
had persuaded the commander of the craft mentioned, to 
bring him from the West Indies, and to put him ashore as 
related, the Vineyard being only a hundred miles or so to 
the eastward of Oyster Pond Point. He trusted to luck to 
give him . the necessary opportunity of overcoming these last 
hundred miles.’ 

Daggett was poor, as he admitted, as well as friendless and 
unknown. He had with him, nevertheless, a substantial sea- 
chest, one of those that the sailors of that day uniformly used 
in merchant-vessels, a man-of-war compelling them to carry 
their clothes in bags, for the convenience of compact stowage. 
The chest of Daggett, however, was a regular inmate of the 
forecastle, and, from its appearance, had made almost as many 
voyages as its owner. The last, indeed, was heard to say 


28 


THE SEA LIONS. 


that he had succeeded in saving it from no less than three 
shipwrecks. It was a reasonably heavy chest, though its 
contents, when opened, did not seem to be of any very great 
value. 

A few hours after landing, this man had made a bargain 
with a middle-aged widow, in very humble circumstances, and 
who dwelt quite near to the residence of Deacon Pratt, to re- 
ceive him as a temporary inmate ; or, until he could get a 
“ chance across to the Vineyard.” At first, Daggett kept 
about, and was much in the open air. While able to walk, he 
met the deacon, and singular — nay, unaccountable as it seemed 
to the niece — the uncle soon contracted a species of friendship 
for, not to say intimacy with, this stranger. In the first place, 
the deacon was a little particular in not having intimates 
among the necessitous, and the Widow White soon let it be 
known that her guest had not even a “red cent.” He had 
chattels, however, that were of some estimation among seamen ; 
and Roswell Gardiner, or “Gar’ner,” as he was called, the 
young seaman 'par excellence of the Point, one who had been 
not only a whaling, but who had also been a sealing, and who 
at that moment was on board the deacon’s schooner, in the 
capacity of master, had been applied to for advice and assist- 
ance. By the agency of Mr. Gar’ner, as the young mate was 
then termed, sundry palms, sets of sail-needles, a fid or two, 
and various other similar articles, that obviously could no 
longer be of any use to Daggett, were sent across to the “ Har- 
bor,” and disposed of there, to advantage, among the many 
seamen of the port. By these means the stranger was, for a 
few weeks, enabled to pay his way, the board he got being 
both poor and cheap. 

A much better result attended this intercourse with Gardi- 
ner, than that of raising the w^orn-out seaman’s immediate 
w’ays and means. Between Mary Pratt and Roswell Gardiner 
there existed an intimacy of long standing for their years, as 
well as of some peculiar features, to which there will be occa- 


THE SEA LIONS. 


29 


sion to advert hereafter. Mary was the very soul of charity in 
all its significations, and this Gardiner knew. When, there- 
fore, Daggett became really necessitous, in the way of comforts 
that even money could not command beneath the roof of the 
Widow White, the young man let the fact be known to the 
deacon’s niece, who immediately provided sundry delicacies 
that were acceptable to the palate of even disease. As for her 
uncle, nothing was at first said to him on the subject. Al- 
though his intimacy with Daggett went on increasing, and they 
were daily more and more together in long and secret confer- 
ence, not a suggestion was ever made by the deacon in the 
way of contributing to his new friend’s comforts. To own the 
truth, to give was the last idea that ever occurred to this man’s 
thoughts. 

Mary Pratt was observant, and of a mind so constituted, that 
its observations usually led her to safe and accurate deductions. 
Great was the surprise of all on the Point when it became 
known that Deacon Pratt had purchased and put into the 
water the new sea-going craft that was building on speculation 
at Southold. Not only had he done this, but he had actually 
bought some half-worn copper, and had it placed on the 
schooner’s bottom, as high as the bends, ere he had her 
launched. While the whole neighborhood was “ exercised” 
with conjectures on the motive which could induce the deacon 
to become a shipowner in his age, Mary did not fail to impute 
it to some secret but powerful influence, that the sick stranger 
had obtained over him. He now spent nearly half his time in 
private communications with Daggett ; and, on more than one 
occasion, when the niece had taken some light article of food 
over for the use of the last, she found him and her uncle exam- 
ining one or two dirty and well-worn charts of the ocean. As 
she entered, the conversation invariably was changed ; nor was 
Mrs. White ever permitted to be present at one of these secret 
conferences. 

Not only was the schooner purchased, and coppered, and 


30 


THE SEA LIONS. 


launched, and preparations made to fit her for sea, but “ young 
Gar’ner” was appointed to command her ! As respects Ros- 
well Gardiner, or “ Gar’ner,” as it would be almost thought a 
breach of decorum, in Suffolk, not to call him, there was no 
mystery. Six-and-twenty years before the opening of our le- 
gend, he had been born on Oyster Pond itself, and of one of its 
best families. Indeed, he was known to be a descendant of 
Lyon Gardiner, that engineer who had been sent to the settle- 
ment of the lords Saye, and Seal, and Brook, since called Say- 
brook, near two centuries before, to lay out a town and a fort. 
This Lyon Gardiner had purchased of the Indians the island in 
that neighborhood, which still bears his name. This establish- 
ment on the island was made in 1639 ; and now^, at an inter- 
val of two hundred and nine years, it is in possession of its 
ninth owner, all having been of the name and blood of its origi- 
nal patentee. This is great antiquity for America, which, while 
it has produced many families of greater wealth, and renown, 
and importance, than that of the Gardiners, has seldom pro- 
duced any of more permanent local respectability. This is a 
feature in society that we so much love to see, and which is so 
much endangered by the uncertain and migratory habits of the 
people, that we pause a moment to record this instance of sta- 
bility, so pleasing and so commendable, in an age and country 
of changes. 

The descendants of any family of two centuries standing, 
will, as a matter of course, be numerous. There are excep- 
tions, certainly ; but such is the rule. Thus is it with Lyon 
Gardiner and his progeny, who are now to be numbered in 
scores, including persons in all classes of life, though it carries 
with it a stamp of caste to be known in Suffolk as having 
come direct from the loins of old Lyon Gardiner. Roswell, of 
that name, if not of that ilk, the island then being the sole 
property of David Johnson Gardiner, the predecessor and 
brother of its present proprietor, was allowed to have this 
claim, though it would exceed our genealogical knowledge to 


THE SEA LIONS. 


31 


point out the precise line by which this descent was claimed. 
Young Roswell was of respectable blood on both sides, without 
being very brilliantly connected, or rich. On the contrary, 
early left an orphan, fatherless and motherless, as was the case 
with Mary Pratt, he had been taken from a country academy 
when only fifteen, and sent to sea, that he might make his own 
way in the world. Hitherto, his success had not been of a very 
flattering character. He had risen, notwithstanding, to be the 
: chief mate of a whaler, and bore an excellent reputation among 
the people of Suftblk. Had it only been a year or two later, 
when speculation took hold of the whaling business in a larger 
1 w^ay, he would not have had the least difiiculty in obtaining a 
ship. As it was, however, great was his delight when Deacon 
Pratt engaged him as master of the new schooner, which had 
been already named the “ Sea Lion” — or “ Sea Lyon,” as Ros- 
well sometimes aflfected to spell the word, in honor of his old 
progenitor, the engineer. 

Mary Pratt had noted all these proceedings, partly with pain, 
partly with pleasure, but always with great interest. It pained 
her to find her uncle, in the decline of life, engaging in a busi- 
ness about which he knew nothing. It pained her still more, 
to see one whom she loved from habit, if not from moral sym- 
pathies, wasting the few hours that remained for preparing for 
the last great change, in attempts to increase possessions that 
were already much more than sufficient for his wants. This 
consideration, in particular, deeply grieved JVIary Pratt ; for she 
was profoundly pious, with a conscience that was so sensitive 
as materially to interfere with her happiness, as will presently 
be shown, while her uncle was merely a deacon. It is one 
thing to be a deacon, and another to be devoted to the love of 
God, and to that love of our species which we are told is the 
consequence of a love of the Deity. The two are not incom- 
patible ; neither are they identical. This Mary had been made 
to see, in spite of all her wishes to be blind as respects the par- 
ticular subject from whom she had learned the unpleasant les- 


32 


THE SEA LIONS. 


son. The pleasure felt by our heroine, for such we now an- 
nounce Mary Pratt to be, was derived from the preferment be- 
stowed on Roswell Gardiner. She had many a palpitation of 
the heart when she heard of his good conduct as a seaman, as 
she always did whenever she heard his professional career 
alluded to at all. On this point, Roswell was without spot, as 
all Suffolk knew and confessed. On Oyster Pond, he was re- 
garded as a species of sea lion himself, so numerous and so ex- 
citing were the incidents that were related of his prowess among 
the whales. But, there was a dark cloud before all these glories, 
in the eyes of Mary Pratt, which for two years had disinclined 
her to listen to the young man’s tale of love, which had induced 
her to decline accepting a hand that had now been offered to her, 
with a seaman’s ardor, a seaman’s frankness, and a seaman’s sin- 
cerity, some twenty times at least, and which had induced her to 
struggle severely with her own heart, which she had long found 
to be a powerful ally of her suitor. That cloud came from a 
species of infidelity that is getting to be so widely spread in 
America as no longer to work in secret, but which lifts its head 
boldly among us, claiming openly to belong to one of the nu- 
merous sects of the land. Mary had reason to think that Ros- 
well Gardiner denied the divinity of Christ, while he professed 
to honor and defer to him as a man far elevated above all other 
men, and as one whose blood had purchased the redemption of 
his race ! 

We will take this occasion to say that our legend is not po- 
lemical in any sense, and that we have no intention to enter 
into discussions or arguments connected with this subject, be- 
yond those which we may conceive to be necessary to illustrate 
the picture which it is our real aim to draw — that of a confid- 
ing, affectionate, nay, devoted woman’s heart, in conflict with a 
deep sense of religious duty. 

Still, Mary rejoiced that Roswell Gardiner was to command 
the Sea Lion. Whither this little vessel, a schooner of about 
one hundred and forty tons measurement, was to sail, she had 


THE SEA LIONS. 


33 


not the slightest notion ; but, go where it might, her thoughts 
and prayers were certain to accompany it. These are woman’s 
means of exerting influence, and who shall presume to say that 
they are without results, and useless ? On the contrary, we be- 
lieve them to be most efficacious ; and thrice happy is the man 
who, as he treads the mazes and wiles of the world, goes accom- 
panied by the petitions of such gentle and pure-minded beings 
at home, as seldom think of approaching the throne of grace 
without also thinking of him and of his necessities. The Ro- 
manists say, and say it rightly too, could one only believe in 
their efiicacy, that the prayers they offer up in behalf of depart- 
ed friends, are of the most endearing nature ; but it would be 
difiicult to prove that petitions for the souls of the dead can 
demonstrate greater interest, or bind the parties more closely 
together in the unity of love, than those that are constantly of- 
fered up in behalf of the living. 

The interest that Mary Pratt felt in Roswell’s success needs 
little explanation. In all things he was most agreeable to her, 
but in the one just mentioned. Their ages, their social posi- 
i tions, their habits, their orphan condition, even their preju- 
I dices — and who that dwells aside from the world is without 
i them, when most of those who encounter its collisions still 
i cherish them so strongly ? — all united to render them of in- 
I terest to each other. Nor was Deacon Pratt at all opposed 
i to the connection ; on the contrary, he appeared rather to 
favor it. 

1; The objections came solely from Mary, whose heart was 
nearly ready to break each time that she was required to urge 
them. As for the uncle, it is not easy to say what could induce 
’ him to acquiesce in, to favor indeed, the addresses to his niece 
! and nearest relative, of one who was known not to possess five 
‘ hundred dollars in the world. As his opinions on this subject 
were well known to all on Oyster Pond, they had excited a good 
I deal of speculation ; “ exercising” the whole neighborhood, as 
\ was very apt to be the case whenever any thing occurred in the 
[ 2 * 


34 


THE SEA LIONS. 


least out of the ordinary track. The several modes of reasoning 
were something like these : 

Some were of opinion that the deacon foresaw a successful 
career to, and eventual prosperity in the habits and enterprise 
of, the young mate, and that he was willing to commit to his 
keeping, not only his niece, but the three farms, his “ money at 
use,” and certain shares he was known to own in a whaler, and 
no less than three coasters, as well as an interest in a store at 
Southold ; that is to say, to commit them all to the keeping of 
“ young Gar’ner,” when he was himself dead ; for no one be- 
lieved he would part with more than Mary, in his own lifetime. 

Others fancied he was desirous of getting the orphan off his 
hands, in the easiest possible way, that he might make a bequest 
of his whole estate to the theological institution that had been 
coqueting with him now, for several years, through its recog- - 
nized agents, and to which he had already made the liberal do- 
nation of one hundred dollars. It was well ascertained that the 
agents of that Institution openly talked of getting Deacon Pratt 
to sit for his portrait, in order that it might be suspended 
among those of others of its benefactors. 

A third set reasoned differently from both the foregoing. The 
“ Gar’ners” were a better family than the Pratts, and the deacon 
being so “ well to do,” it was believed by these persons that he 
was disposed to unite money with name, and thus give to his 
family consideration, from a source that was somewhat novel in 
its history. This class of reasoners was quite small, however, and 
mainly consisted of those who had rarely been off of Oyster 
Pond, and who passed their days with “Gar’ner’s Island” di- 
rectly before their eyes. A few of the gossips of this class pre- 
tended to say that their own young sailor stood next in succes- 
sion after the immediate family actually in possession should 
run out, of which there was then some prospect ; and that the 
deacon, sly fellow, knew all about it ! For this surmise, to pre- 
vent useless expectations in the reader, it may be well to say at 
once, there was no foundation whatever, Roswell’s connection I 

i 


THE SEA LIONS. 


85 


with the owner of the island being much too remote to give 
him any chance of succeeding to that estate, or to any thing 
else that belonged to him. 

There was a fourth and last set, among those who speculated 
on the deacon’s favor towards “ young Gar’ner,” and these were 
they who fancied that the old man had opened his heart to- 
wards the young couple, and was disposed to render a deserving 
youth and a beloved niece happy. This was the smallest class 
of all ; and, what is a little remarkable, it contained only the 
most reckless and least virtuous of all those who dwelt on 
Oyster Pond. The parson of the parish, or the Pastor as he 
was usually termed, belonged to the second category, that good 
man being firmly impressed that most, if not all of Deacon 
Pratt’s w^orldly effects would eventually go to help propagate 
the gospel. 

Such was the state of things when the deacon returned from 
meeting, as related in the opening chapter. At his niece’s sug- 
gestion of sending to the Harbor for Dr. Sage, he had de- 
murred, not only on account of the expense, but for a still more 
cogent reason. To tell the truth, he was exceedingly distrust- 
ful of any one’s being admitted to a communication Avith Dag- 
gett, who had revealed to him matters that he deemed to be of 
great importance, but who still retained the key to his most 
material mystery. Nevertheless, decency, to say nothing of the 
influence of Avhat folks “ would say,” the Archimedean lever of 
all society of puritanical origin, exhorted him to consent to his 
niece’s proposal. 

“ It is such a round-about road to get to the Harbor, Mary,” 
the uncle slowly objected, after a pause. 

“ Boats often go there, and return in a few hours.” 

“ Yes, yes — boats ; but I’m not certain it is lawful to work 
boats of a Sabbath, child.” 

“ I believe, sir, it was deemed lawful to do good on the 
Lord’s day.” 

“Yes, if a body was certain it would do any good. To be 


36 


THE SEA LIONS. 


sure, Sage is a capital doctor — as good as any going in these 
parts — but, half the time, money paid for doctor’s stuff is 
thrown away.” 

“ Still, I think it our duty to try to serve a fellow-creature 
that is in distress ; and Daggett, I fear, will not go through the 
week, if indeed he go through the night.” 

“ I should be sorry to have him die !” exclaimed the deacon, 
looking really distressed at this intelligence. “ Right sorry 
should I be to have him die — just yet.” 

The last two words were uttered unconsciously, and in a 
way to cause the niece to regret that they had been uttered 
at all. But they had come, notwithstanding, and the deacon 
saw that he had been too frank. The fault could not now be 
remedied, and he was fain to allow his words to produce their 
own effect. 

“ Die he will, I fear, uncle,” returned Mary, after a short 
pause ; “ and sorry should I be to have it so without our feeling 
the consolation of knowing we had done all in our power to 
save him, or to serve him.” 

“ It is so far to the Harbor, that no good might come of 
a messenger ; and the money paid him would be thrown away, 
too.” 

“ I dare say Roswell Gar’ner would be glad to go to help a 
fellow-creature who is suffering. He would not think of de- 
manding any pay.” 

“Yes, that is true. I will say this for Gar’ner, that he is as 
reasonable a young man, when he does an odd job, as any one 
I know. I like to employ him.” 

Mary understood this very well. It amounted to neither 
more nor less, than the deacon’s perfect consciousness that the 
youth had, again and again, given him his time and his services 
gratuitously ; and that, too, more than once, under circumstances 
when it would have been quite proper that he should look for 
a remuneration. A slight color stole over the face of the niece 
as memory recalled to her mind these different occasions. 


THE SEA LIONS. 


37 


Was that sensitive blush owing to her perceiving the besetting 
weakness of one who stood in the light of a parent to her, and 
towards whom she endeavored to feel the affection of a child ? 
We shall not gainsay this, so far as a portion of the feeling 
which produced that blush was concerned ; but, certain it is, 
that the thought that Roswell had exerted himself to oblige 
her uncle, obtruded itself somewhat vividly among her other 
recollections. 

“ Well, sir,” the niece resumed, after another brief pause, 
“ we can send for Roswell, if you think it best, and ask him to 
do the poor man this act of kindness.” 

“Your messengers after doctors are always in such a hurry ! 
I dare say Gar’ner would think it necessary to hire a horse to 
cross Shelter Island, and then perhaps a boat to get across to 
the Harbor. If no boat was to be found, it might be another 
horse to gallop away round the head of the Bay. Why, five 
dollars would scarce meet the cost of such a race !” 

“ If five dollars were needed, Roswell would pay them out of 
his own pocket, rather than ask another to assist him in doing 
an act of charity. But, no horse will be necessary; the 
whale-boat is at the wharf, and is ready for use, at any 
moment.” 

“ True, I had forgotten the whale-boat. If that is home, 
the doctor might be brought across at a reasonable rate; 
especially if Gar’ner will volunteer. I dare say Daggett’s 
efiects will pay the bill for attendance, since they have an- 
swered, as yet, to meet the Widow White’s charges. As 
I live, here comes Gar’ner, at this moment, and just as we 
want him.” 

“ I knew of no other to ask to cross the bays, sir, and sent 
for Roswell before you returned. Had you not got back as 
you did, I should have taken on myself the duty of sending for 
the doctor.” 

“ In which case, girl, you would have made yourself liable. 
I have too many demands on my means, to be scattering dol- 


38 


THE SEA LIONS. 


lars broadcast. But, here is Gar’ner, and I dare say all will be 
made right.” 

Gardiner now joined the uncle and niece, who had held 
this conversation in the porch, having hastened up from the 
schooner the instant he received Mary’s summons. He was 
rewarded by a kind look and a friendly shake of the hand, 
each of which was slightly more cordial than those that pru- 
dent and thoughtful young woman was accustomed to bestow 
on him. He saw that Mary was a little earnest in her man- 
ner, and looked curious, as well as interested, to learn why he 
had been summoned at all. Sunday was kept so rigidly at the 
deacon’s, that the young man did not dare visit the house 
until after the sun had set ; the New England practice of com- 
mencing the Sabbath of a Saturday evening, and bringing it 
to a close at the succeeding sunset, prevailing among most 
of the people of Sufiblk, the Episcopalians forming nearly all 
the exceptions to the usage. Sunday evening, consequently, 
was in great request for visits, it being the favorite time for 
the young people to meet, as they were not only certain to 
be unemployed, but to be in their best. Roswell Gardiner was 
in the practice of visiting Mary Pratt on Sunday evenings ; but 
he would almost as soon think of desecrating a church, as 
think of entering the deacon’s abode, on the Sabbath, until 
after sunset, or “sunc^owjw,” to use the familiar Americanism 
that is commonly applied to this hour of the day. Here he 
was now, however, wondering, and anxious to learn why he 
had been sent for. 

“Roswell,” said Mary, earnestly, slightly coloring again as 
she spoke, “we have a great favor to ask. You know the 
poor old sailor who has been staying at the Widow White’s 
this month or more — he is now very low ; so low, we think he 
ought to have better advice than can be found on Oyster 
Pond, and we wish to get Dr. Sage over from the Harbor. 
How to do it has been the question, when I thought of you. 
If you could take the whale-boat and go across, the poor man 


THE SEA LIONS. 


39 


might have the benefit of the doctor’s advice in the course of a 
few hours.” 

“Yes,” put in the uncle, “ and I shall charge nothing for the 
use of the boat ; so that, if you volunteer, Gar’ner, it will leave 
so much towards settling up the man’s accounts, when set- 
tling-day comes.” 

Roswell Gardiner understood both uncle and niece perfectly. 
The intense selfishness of the first was no more a secret to him 
than was the entire disinterestedness of the last. He gazed a 
moment, in fervent admiration, at Mary ; then he turned to the 
deacon, and professed his readiness to “ volunteer.” Knowing 
the man so well, he took care distinctly to express the word, 
so as to put the mind of this votary of Mammon at ease. 

“ Gar’ner will volunteer^ then,” rejoined the uncle, “ and I 
shall charge nothing for the use of the boat. This is ‘ doing 
as we would be done by,’ and is all right, considering that 
Daggett is sick and among strangers. The wind is fair, or 
nearly fair, to go and to come back, and you’ll make a short 
trip of it. Yes, it will cost nothing, and may do the poor 
man good.” 

“ Now go at once, Roswell,” said Mary, in an entreating man- 
ner ; “ and show the same skill in managing the boat that you 
did the day you won the race against the Harbor oarsmen.” 

“ I will do all a man can, to oblige you, Mary, as well as to 
serve the sick. If Dr. Sage should not be at home, am I to 
look for another physician, Mr. Pratt ?” 

“ Sage must be at home — we can employ no other. Your 
old, long-established physicians understand how to consider 
practice, and don’t make mistakes — by the way, Gar’ner, you 
needn’t mention my name in the business at all. Just say that 
a sick man, at the Widow White’s, needs his services, and that 
you had volunteered to take him across. That will bring him 
— I know the man.” 

Again Gardiner understood what the deacon meant. He 
was just as desirous of not paying the physician as of not pay- 


40 


THE SEA LIONS. 


ing the messenger. Mary understood him too, and, with a 
face still more sad than anxiety had previously made it, she 
walked into the house, leaving her uncle and lover in the 
porch. After a few more injunctions from the former, in the 
way of prudent precaution, the latter departed, hurrying down 
to the water-side, in order to take to the boat. 


THE SEA LIONS. 


41 


CHAPTER III. 

“ All that glisters is not gold, 

Often have you heard that told; 

Many a man his life hath sold, 

But my outside to behold.” 

Merchant of Venice. 

No sooner was Deacon Pratt left alone, than he hastened to 
the humble dwelling of the Widow White. The disease of 
Daggett was a general decay, that was not attended with much 
suffering. He was now seated in a homely armchair, and was 
able to converse. He was not aware, indeed, of the real danger 
of his case, and still had hopes of surviving many years. The 
deacon came in at the door, just as the widow had passed 
through it, on her way to visit another crone, who lived hard 
by, and with whom she was in the constant habit of consulting. 
She had seen the deacon in the distance, and took that occa- 
sion to run across the road, having a sort of instinctive notion 
that her presence was not required when the two men conferred 
together. What was the subject of their frequent private com- 
munications, the Widow White did not exactly know; but what 
she imagined, will in part appear in her discourse with her 
neighbor, the Widow Stone. 

t “ Here’s the deacon, ag’in !” cried the Widow White, as she 
bolted hurriedly into her friend’s presence. “ This makes the 
third time he has been at my house since yesterday morning. 
What can he mean ?” 

“ Oh ! I dare say, Betsy, he means no more than to visit the 
sick, as he pretends is the reason of his many visits.” 

“ You forget it is Sabba’ day !” added the Widow White, 
with emphasis. 


42 


THE SEA LIONS. 


“ The better day, the better deed, Betsy.” 

“ I know tliat ; but it’s di’eadful often for a man to visit the 
sick — three times in twenty-four hours !” 

“ Yes ; ’twould have been more nat’ral for a woman, a body 
must own,” returned the Widow Stone, a little drily. “Had 
the deacon been a woman, I dare say, Betsy, you would not 
have thought so much of his visits.” 

“ I should think nothing of them at all,” rejoined the sister 
widow, innocently enough. “ But it is dreadful odd in a man 
to be visiting about among the sick so much — and he a deacon 
of the meeting !” 

“Yes, it is not as common as it might be, particularly among 
deacons. But, come in, Betsy, and I will show you the text 
from which minister preached this morning. It’s well worth 
attending to, for it touches on our forlorn state.” Hereupon, 
the two relicts entered an inner room, where we shall leave 
them to discuss the merits of the sermon, interrupted by many 
protestations on the part of the Widow White, concerning the 
“ dreadful” character of Deacon Pratt’s many visits to her cot- 
tage, “ Sabba’ days” as well as week days. 

In the mean while, the interview between the deacon, himself, 
and the sick mariner, had its course. After the first salutations, 
and the usual inquiries, the visitor, with some parade of manner, 
alluded to the fact that he had sent for a physician for the 
other’s benefit. 

“I did it of my own head,” added the deacon ; “or, I might 
better say, of my own heart. It was unpleasant to me to wit- 
ness your sufferings, without doing something to alleviate them. 
To alleviate sorrow, and pain, and the throes of conscience, is 
one of the most pleasant of all the Christian offices. Yes, I 
have sent young Gar’ner across the bays, to the Harbor ; and 
three or four hours hence we may look for him back, with Dr. 
Sage in his boat.” 

“ I only hope I shall have the means to pay for all this ex- 
pense and trouble, deacon,” returned Daggett, in a sort of 


THE SEA LIONS. 


43 


doubting way, that, for a moment, rendered his friend ex- 
ceedingly uncomfortable. “Go, I know I must, sooner or 
later ; but could I only live to get to the Vineyard, it would 
be found that my share of the old homestead would make up 
for all my wants. I may live to see the end of the other busi- 
ness.” 

Among the other tales of Daggett, was one which said that 
he had never yet received his share of his father’s property ; an 
account that was true enough, though the truth might have 
shown that the old man had left nothing worth dividing. He 
had been a common mariner, like the son, and had left behind 
him a common mariner’s estate. The deacon mused a moment, 
and then he took an occasion to advert to the subject that had 
now been uppermost in his thoughts ever since he had been in 
the habit of holding secret conferences with the sick man. 
What that subject was, will appear in the course of the con- 
versation that ensued. 

“ Have you thought of the chart, Daggett,” asked the deacon, 
“ and given an eye to that journal ?” 

“ Both, sir. Your kindness to me has been so great, that I am 
not a man apt to forget it.” 

“ I wish you would show me, yourself, the precise places on 
the chart, where them islands are to be found. There is noth- 
ing like seeing a thing with one’s own eyes.” 

“ You forget my oath. Deacon Pratt. Every man on us took 
his bible oath not to point out the position of the islands, until 
a’ ter the year 1820. Then, each and all on us is at liberty to 
do as he pleases. But, the chart is in my chest, and not only 
the islands, but the key, is so plainly laid down, that any mari- 
ner could find ’em. With that chest, however, I cannot part, so 
long as I live. Get me well, and I will sail in the Sea Lion, and 
tell your captain Gar’ner all he will have occasion to know. 
The man’s fortune will be made who first gets to either of them 
places.” 

“Yes, I can imagine that, easy enough, from your accounts. 


44 


THE SEA LIONS. 


Daggett — but, bow am I to be certain that some other vessel 
will not get the start of me 

“ Because the secret is now my own. There was but seven 
on us, in that brig, all told. Of them seven, four died at the 
islands of the fever, homeward bound ; and of the other three, 
the captain was drowned in the squall I told you of, when he 
was washed overboard. That left only Jack Thompson and me; 
and Jack, I think, must be the very man whose death I see’d, 
six months since, as being killed by a whale on the False 
Banks.” 

“ Jack Thompson is so common a name, a body never knows. 
Besides, if he was killed by that whale, he may have told the 
secret to a dozen before the accident.” 

“ There’s his oath ag’in it. Jack was sworn, as well as all on 
us, and he was a man likely to stand by what he swore to. 
This was none of your custom-house oaths, of which a chap 
might take a dozen of a morning, and all should be false ; but 
it was an oath that put a seaman on his honor, since it was a 
good-fellowship aflfair, all round.” 

Deacon Pratt did not tell Daggett that Thompson might have 
as good reasons for disregarding the oath as he had himself ; 
but he thought it. These are things that no wise man utters on 
such occasions ; and this opinion touching the equality of the 
obligation of that oath was one of them. 

“There is another hold upon Jack,” continued Daggett, after 
reflecting a moment. “ He never could make any fist of lati- 
tude and longitude at all, and he kept no journal. Now, should 
he get it wrong, he and his friends might hunt a year without 
finding either of the places.” 

“You think there was no mistake in the pirate’s account 
of that key, and of the buried treasure ?” asked the deacon, 
anxiously. 

“ I would swear to the truth of what he said, as freely as if I 
had seen the box myself. They was necessitated, as you may 
suppose, or they never would have left so much gold, in sich an 


I 


THE SEA LIONS. 


45 


uninhabited place ; but leave it they did, on the word of a 
dying man.” 

“Dying? — ^You mean the pirate, I suppose?” 

“To be sure I do. We was shut up in the same prison, and 
we talked the matter over at least twenty times, before he was 
swung off. When they were satisfied I had nothing to do with 
the pirates, I was cleared ; and I was on my way to the Vine- 
yard, to get some craft or other, to go a’ter these two treasures 
(for one is just as much a treasure as t’other) when I was put 
ashore here. It’s much the same to me, whether the craft sails 
from Oyster Pond or from the Vineyard.” 

“Of course. Well, as much to oblige you, and to put your 
mind at rest, as any thing else, I’ve bought this Sea Lion, 
and engaged young Roswell Gar’ner to go out in her, as her 
master. She’ll be ready to sail in a fortnight, and, if things 
turn out as you say, a good voyage will she make. All inter- 
ested in her will have reason to rejoice. I see but one thing 
needful just now, and that is, that you should give me the 
chart at once, in order that I may study it well, before the 
schooner sails.” 

“ Do you mean to make the v’y’ge yourself, deacon ?” asked 
Daggett, in some surprise. 

“Not in person, certainly,” was the answer. “I’m getting 
somewhat too old to leave home for so long a time ; and, 
though born and brought up in sight of salt-water. I’ve never 
tried it beyond a trip to York, or one to Boston. Still, I shall 
have my property in the adventure, and it’s nat’ral to keep an 
eye on that. Now, the chart well studied beforehand would 
be much more useful, it seems to me, than it can possibly be 
if taken up at a late hour.” 

“ There will be time enough for Captain Gar’ner to overhaul 
his chart well, afore he reaches either of his ports,” returned the 
mai iner, evasively. “ If I sail with him, as I suppose I must, 
nothing will be easier than for me to give all the courses and 
distances.” 


46 


THE SEA LIONS. 


This reply produced a long and brooding silence. By this 
time the reader will have got a clue to the nature of the secret 
that was discussed so much and so often between these two 
men. Daggett, finding himself sick, poor, and friendless, 
among strangers, had early cast about him for the means of 
obtaining an interest with those who might serve him. He 
had soon got an insight into the character of Deacon Pratt, 
from the passing remarks of the Widow White, who was in- 
duced to allude to the uncle in consequence of the charitable 
visits of the niece. One day, w’hen matters appeared to be at 
a very low ebb with him, and shortly after he had been put 
ashore, the sick mariner requested an interview with the dea- 
con himself. The request had been reluctantly granted ; but, 
during the visit, Daggett had managed so well to whet his 
visitor’s appetite for gain, that henceforth there was no trouble 
in procuring the deacon’s company. Little by little had Dag- 
gett let out his facts, always keeping enough in reserve to ren- 
der himself necessary until he had got his new acquaintance in 
the highest state of feverish excitement. The schooner was 
purchased, and all the arrangements necessary to her outfit 
were pressed forward as fast as prudence would at all allow. 
The chart, and the latitude and longitude, were the circum- 
stances over which Daggett retained the control. These he 
kept to himself, though he averred that he had laid down on 
the charts that were in his chest the two important points 
which had been the subjects of his communications. 

Although this man had been wily in making his revelations, 
and had chosen his confidant with caution and sagacity, most 
of that which he related was true. He had belonged to a 
sealer that had been in a very high southern latitude, where it 
had made some very important discoveries, touching the ani- 
mals that formed the objects of its search. It was possible to 
fill a vessel in those islands in a few weeks ; and the master of 
the sealer, Daggett having been his mate, had made all his 
people swear on their “ bible oaths” not to reveal the facts, ex- 


THE SEA LIONS. 


47 


cept under prescribed circumstances. His own vessel was full 
when he made the discoveries, but misfortune befell her on her 
homeward-bound passage, until she was herself totally lost in 
the West Indies, and that in a part of the ocean where she 
had no business to be. 

In consequence of these several calamities, Daggett and one 
more man were the sole living depositories of the important in- 
formation. These men separated, and, as stated, Daggett had 
reason to think that his former shipmate had been -recently 
killed by a whale. The life and movements of a sailor are usu- 
ally as eccentric as the career of a comet. After the loss of the 
sealing- vessel, Daggett remained in the West Indies and on 
the Spanish Main for some time, until falling into evil company 
he was imprisoned on a charge of piracy, in company with one 
who better deserved the imputation. While in the same cell, 
the pirate had made a relation to Daggett of all the incidents 
of a very eventful life. Among other things revealed was the 
fact that, on a certain occasion, he and two others had deposited 
a very considerable amount of treasure on a key that he de- 
scribed very minutely, and which he now bestowed on Daggett 
as some compensation for his present unmerited sufferings, his 
companions having both been drowned by the upsetting of 
their boat on the return from the key in question. Subse- 
quently, this pirate had been executed, and Daggett liberated. 
He was not able to get to the key without making friends and 
confidants on whom he could rely, and he was actually making 
the best of his way to Martha’s Vineyard with that intent, when 
put ashore on Oyster Pond. In most of that which this man 
had related to the deacon, therefore, he had told the truth, 
though it was the truth embellished, as is so apt to be the case 
with men of vulgar minds. He might have been misled by 
the narrative of the pirate, but it was his own opinion that he 
had not been. The man was a Scot, prudent, wary, and saga- 

; cious ; and in the revelations he made he appeared to be gov- 
erned by a conviction that his own course was run, and that it 

[ 

! 

I 


48 


THE SEA LIONS. 


was best that his secret should not die with him. Daggett had 
rendered him certain services, too, and gratitude might have 
had some influence. 

“My mind has been much exercised with this matter of 
the hidden gold,” resumed the deacon, after the long pause 
already mentioned. “ You will remember that there may be 
lawful owners of that money, should Gar’ner even succeed in 
flnding it.” 

“ Twould be hard for ’em to prove their claims, sir, if what 
McGosh told me was true. Accordin’ to his account, the gold 
came from all sides — starboard and larboard, as a body might 
say — and it was jumbled together, and so mixed, that a young 
girl could not pick out her lover’s keepsake from among the 
other pieces. ’Twas the ’arnin’s of three years’ cruisin’, as I 
understood him to say ; and much of the stuff had been ex- 
changed in port, especially to get the custom-house officers and 
king’s officers out of its wake. There’s king’s oflScers among 
them bloody Spaniards, Deaeon Pratt, all the same as among 
the English.” 

“ Be temperate in your language, friend ; a rough speech is 
unseemly, particularly on the Lord’s day.” 

Daggett rolled the tobacco over his tongue, and his eyes 
twinkled with a sort of leer, which indicated that the fellow 
was not without some humor. He submitted patiently to 
the rebuke, however, making no remonstrance against its re- 
ception. 

“ No, no,” he added presently, “ a starn chase, they say, is a 
long chase ; and the owners of them doubloons, if owners they 
can now be called, must be out of sight long before this. Ac- 
cordin’ to McGosh, some of the gold r’aally captured had 
passed back through the hands of them that sent it to sea, and 
they did not know their own children !” 

“ It is certainly hard to identify coin, and it would be a bold 
man who should stand up in open court, and make oath to its 
being the same he had once held. I have heard of the same 


THE SEA LIONS. 


49 


gold’s having answered the purposes of twenty banks, one piece 
being so like another.” 

“ Ay, ay, sir, gold is gold ; and any of it is good enough for 
me, though doubloons is my favorites. When a fellow has got 
half-a-dozen doubloons alongside of his ribs, he can look the 
landlord full in the eye ; and no one thinks of saying to sich as 
he, ‘ It’s time to think of shipping ag’in.’ ” 

From the nature of this discourse, it will not be easy for the 
reader to imagine the real condition of Daggett. At the very 
moment he was thus conversing of money, and incidentally 
manifesting his expectations of accompanying Roswell Gardiner 
in the expedition that was about to sail, the man had not ac- 
tually four-and-twenty hours of life in him. Mary Pratt had 
foreseen his true state, accustomed as she was to administer to 
the wants of the dying ; but no one else appeared to be aware 
of it, not even the deacon. It was true that the fellow spoke, 
as it might be, from his throat only, and that his voice was 
hollow, and sometimes reduced to a whisper ; but he ascribed 
this, himself, to the circumstance that he had taken a cold. 
Whether the deacon believed this account or not, it might be 
diflBcult to say ; but he appeared to give it full credit. Perhaps 
his mind was so much occupied with the subject of his discus- 
sion with Daggett, that it did not sufficiently advert to the 
real condition of the man. 

Twice that afternoo* did Deacon Pratt go between the cot- 
tage of the Widow White and his own dwelling. As often 
did the relict fly across the way to express her wonder to the 
Widow Stone, at the frequency of the rich man’s visits. The 
second time that he came was when he saw the whale-boat 
rounding the end of Shelter Island, and he perceived, by means 
of his glass, that Dr. Sage was in it. At this sight the deacon 
hurried ofi* to the cottage again, having something to say to 
Daggett that could no longer be delayed. 

“ The whale-boat will soon be in,” he observed, as soon as he 
had taken his seat, “ and we shall shortly have the doctor hero, 


50 


THE SEA L T O N S . 


That young Gar’ner does what he has to do, always, with a 
jerk! There was no such haste, but he seems to be ever in a 
hurry 1” 

“Do what is to be done at once, and then lie by, is the sail- 
or’s rule, deacou,” rejoined the mariner. “ Squalls, and gusts, 
and reefin’, and brailin’ up, and haulin’ down, won’t wait for the 
seaman’s leisure. His work must be done at once, or it will 
not be done at all. I’m not afeard of the doctor; so let him 
come as soon as he pleases. Medicine can’t hurt a body, if he 
don’t take it.” 

“ There’s one thing I wish to say to you, Daggett, before Dr. 
Sage comes in. Talking too much may excite you, especially 
talking of matters that are of interest ; and you may giye him a 
false impression of your state, should you get the pulse up, and 
the cheek flushed, by over-talking.” 

“I understand you, deacon. My secret is my secret, and no 
doctor shall get it out of me as long as I know what I say. 
I’m not so friendly with them, as to seek counsel among doc- 
tors.” 

“ Then it’s the Lord’s day,” added the Pharisee, “ and it is 
not seemly to dwell too much on worldly interests on the Sab- 
bath.” 

A novice might have been surprised, after what had passed, 
at the exceeding coolness with which the deacon uttered this 
sentiment. Daggett was not so in the least, however ; for he 
had taken the measure of his new confldant’s conscience, and 
had lived long enough to know how marked was the difference 
between professions and practice. Nothing, indeed, is more 
common than to meet with those who denounce that in others, 
which is of constant occurrence with themselves ; and who rail 
at vices that are so interwoven with their own moral being, as 
to compose integral portions of their existence. As for the 
deacon, he really thought it w^ould be unseemly, and of evil 
example, for Daggett to converse with Dr. Sage, touching these 
doubloons, on the Lord’s day ; while he had felt no scruples 


THE SEA LIONS. 


51 


himself, a short hour before, to make them the theme of a long 
and interesting discussion, in his own person. It might not re- 
pay us for the trouble, to look for the salve that the worthy 
man applied to his own conscience, by way of reconciling the 
apparent contradiction ; though it probably was connected with 
some fancied and especial duty on his part, of taking care of 
the sick man’s secrets. Sickness, it is well known, forms the 
apology for many an error, both of omission and commission. 

Dr. Sage now arrived ; a shrewd, observant, intelligent man, 
who had formerly represented the district in which he lived, in 
Congress. He was skilful in his profession, and soon made up 
his mind concerning the state of his patient. As the deacon 
never left him for a moment, to him he first communicated his 
opinion, after the visit; as the two walked back towards the 
w^ell-known dwelling of the Pratts. 

“ This poor man is in the last stages of a decline,” said the 
physician, coolly, “ and medicine can do him no good. He may 
live a month ; though it would not surprise me to hear of his 
death in an hour.” 

“ Do you think his time so short !” exclaimed the deacon. 
“ I was in hopes he might last until the Sea Lion goes out, and 
that a voyage might help to set him up.” 

“ Nothing will ever set him up again, deacon, you may de- 
pend on that. No sea-voyage will do him any good ; and it is 
better that he should remain on shore, on account of the greater 
comforts he will get. Does he belong on Oyster Pond?” 

“He comes from somewhere east,” answered the deacon, 
careful not to let the doctor know the place whence the stranger 
had come, though to little purpose, as will presently be seen. 
“ He has neither friend nor acquaintance here ; though I should 
think his effects sufficient to meet all charges.” 

“ Should they not be, he is welcome to my visit,” answered 
the doctor, promptly ; for he well understood the deacon’s mo- 
tive in making the remark. “ I have enjoyed a pleasant sail 
across the bays with young Gar’ner, who has promised to take 


52 


THE SEA LIONS. 


me back again. I like boating, and am always better for one 
of these sailing excursions. Could I cany my patients along, 
half of them would be benefited by the pure air and the exer- 
cise.” 

“ It’s a grateful thing to meet with one of your temperament, 
doctor ; but Daggett — ” 

“ Is this man named Daggett ?” interrupted the physician. 

“ I believe that is what he calls himself, though a body never 
is certain of what such people say.” 

“ That’s true, deacon ; your rambling, houseless sailor is 
commonly a great liar — at least, so have I always found him. 
Most of their log-books will not do to read ; or, for that matter, 
to be written out, in full. But if this man’s name is really 
Daggett, he must come from the Vineyard. There are Daggetts 
there in scores ; yes, he must be. a Vineyard man.” 

“There are Daggetts in Connecticut, as I know, of a cer- 
tainty—” 

“We all know that, for it is a name of weight there ; but the 
Vineyard is the cradle of the breed. The man has a Vineyard 
look about him, too. I dare say, now, he has not been home 
for many a day.” 

The deacon was in an agony. He was menaced with the 
very thing he was in the hope of staving off, or a discussion on 
the subject of the sick man’s previous life. The doctor was so 
mercurial and quick of apprehension, that, once fairly on the 
scent, he was nearly certain he would extract every thing from • 
the patient. This was the principal reason why the deacon did 
not wish to send for him ; the expense, though a serious objec- 
tion to one so niggardly, being of secondary consideration when 
so many doubloons were at stake. It was necessary, however, 
to talk on boldly, as any appearance of hesitation might excite 
the doctor’s distrust. The answers, therefore, came instanta- 
neously. 

“ It may be as you say, doctor,” returned the deacon ; “ for 
them Vineyard folks (Anglice folk) are great wanderers.” 


1 


THE SEA LIONS. 


53 


“ That *are they. I had occasion to pass a day there, a few 
years since, on my way to Boston, and I found five women on 
the island to one man. It must he a particular conscientious 
person who could pass a week there, and escape committing 
the crime of bigamy. As for your bachelors, I have heard that 
a poor wretch of that description, who unluckily found himself 
cast ashore there, was married three times the same morning.” 

As the doctor was a little of a wag. Deacon Pratt did, not 
deem it necessary religiously to believe all that now escaped 
him ; but he was glad to keep him in this vein, in order to pre- 
vent his getting again on the track of Daggett’s early life. The 
device succeeded, Martha’s Vineyard being a standing joke for 
all in that quarter of the world, on the subject of the ladies. 

Mary was in the porch to receive her uncle and the physi- 
cian. It was unnecessary for her to ask any questions, for her 
speaking countenance said all that was required, in order to ob- 
tain an answer. 

“He’s in a bad way, certainly, young lady,” observed the 
doctor, taking a seat on one of the benches, “ and I can give 
no hope. How long he may live, is another matter. If he has 
friends whom he wishes to see, or if he has any affairs to settle, 
the truth should be told him at once, and no time lost.” 

“ He knows nothing of his friends,” interrupted the deacon, 
quite thrown off his guard by his own eagerness, and uncon- 
scious, at the moment, of the manner in which he was commit- 
ting himself on the subject of a knowledge of the sick man’s 
birth-place, “not having been on the Vineyard, or heard from 
there, since he first left home, quite fifty years since.” 

The doctor saw the contradiction, and it set him thinking, 
and conjecturing, but he was too discreet to betray himself. 
An explanation there probably Jsvas, and he trusted to time to 
ascertain it. 

“ What has become of captain Gar’ner ?” he asked, looking 
curiously around, as if he expected to find him tied to the niece’s 
apron-string. 


54 


THE SEA LIONS. 


Mary blushed, but she was too innocent to betray any real 
confusion. 

“He has gone back to the schooner, in order to have the 
boat ready for your return.” 

“ And that return must take place, young lady, as soon as I 
have drunk two cups of your tea. I have patients at the Har- 
bor who must yet be visited this evening, and the wind goes 
down with the sun. Let the poor man take the draughts I have 
left for him — they will soothe him, and help his breathing — 
more than this my skill can do nothing for him. Deacon, you 
need say nothing of this visit — I am sufficiently repaid by the 
air, the sail, and Miss Mary’s welcome. I perceive that she is 
glad to see me, and that is something, between so young a 
woman and so old a man. And now for the two cups of 
tea.” 

The tea was drunk, and the doctor took his leave, shaking 
his head as he repeated to the niece, that the medical science 
could do nothing for the sick man. 

“ Let his friends know his situation at once, deacon,” he said, 
as they walked towards the wharf where the whale-boat was 
all ready for a start. “ There is not an hour to lose. Now I 
think of it, the Flash, Captain Smith, is to take a cargo of oil 
to Boston, and sails to-morrow. I can write a line by her, as 
it is ten to one she will go into the Hole. All our craft get 
into that Hole, or into Tarpaulin Cove, before they venture 
across the Shoals ; and a letter addressed to any person of the 
name of Daggett might find the right man. I’ll write it this 
very evening.” 

The announcement of this intention threw the deacon into a 
cold-sweat, but he did not think it prudent to say aught against 
it. He had bought the Sea Lion, engaged Roswell Gardiner, 
and otherwise expended a large sum of money, in the expecta- 
tion of handling those doubloons, to say nothing of the furs ; 
and here was a chance of all his calculations being defeated by 
the interference of impertinent and greedy relatives ! There 


THE SEA LIONS. 


55 


was no remedy but patience, and this the deacon endeavored 
to exercise. 

Deacon Pratt did not accompany the doctor beyond the 
limits of his own orchard. It was not deemed seemly for a 
member of the meeting to be seen walking out on the Sabbath, 
and this was remembered in season to prevent neighborly com- 
ments. It is true the doctor might furnish an apology ; but 
your strictly religious people, when they undertake the care of 
other people’s consciences, do not often descend to these par- 
ticulars. 

No sooner had Gardiner and the physician re-embarked, than 
the deacon returned to the cottage of the Widow AVhite. 
Here he had another long and searching discourse with the 
sick mariner. Poor Daggett was wearied with the subject; 
but Dr. Sage’s predictions of an early termination of the case, 
and the possibility that kinsmen might cross over from the 
“ Vineyard,” in order to learn what the long-absent man had in 
his possession, acted on him as keen incentives. By learning 
the most material facts now, the Sea Lion might get so far 
ahead of all competitors as to secure the prizes, even should 
Daggett let others into the secret, and start another vessel on 
the same expedition. His own schooner was nearly ready for 
sea, whereas time would be needed in order to make an entire 
outfit. 

But Daggett did not appear to be disposed to be more com- 
municative than heretofore. He went over the narrative of the 
discovery of the sealing-island, and gave a graphic account of 
the number and tame condition of the animals who frequented 
it. A man might walk in their midst without giving the 
smallest alarm. In a word, all that a gang of good hands 
w'ould have to do, would be to kill, and skin, and secure the 
oil. It would be like picking up dollars on a sea-beach. 
Sadly ! sadly ! indeed, was the deacon’s cupidity excited by 
this account; a vivid picture of whales, or seals, having some 
such effect on the imagination of a true Suffolk county man, or 


56 


THE SEA LIONS. 


more properly on that of an East-ender, as those who live be- 
yond Riverhead are termed, as a glowing account of a prairie 
covered with wheat has on that of a Wolverine or a Buckeye; 
or an enumeration of cent, per cent, has on the feelings of a 
Wall-street broker. Never before had Deacon Pratt been so 
much “ exercised” with a love of Mammon. The pirate’s tale, 
which was also recapitulated with much gusto, scarce excited 
him as much as Daggett’s glowing account of the number, con- 
dition, and size of the seals. 

Nothing was withheld but the latitudes and longitudes. No 
art of the deacon’s, and he practised many, could extort from 
the mariner these most material facts, without which all the 
rest were useless ; and the old man worked himself into a fever 
almost as .high as that which soon came over Daggett, in the 
effort to come at these facts — but all in vain. 

At that hour the pulse of the sick man usually quickened ; 
but on this occasion it fairly thumped. He had excited him- 
self, as well as his listener ; and the inconsiderate manner in 
which both had yielded up their energies to these enticing im- 
ages of wealth, contributed largely to increase the evil. At 
length, exhaustion came to put an end to the scene, which was 
getting to be dramatic as well as revolting. 

So conscious was the deacon, on returning home that even- 
ing, that his mind was not in such a condition as it behooved 
him to keep it on the Lord’s day, that he was afraid to en- 
counter the placid eye of his devout and single-minded niece. 
Instead of joining her, and uniting in the services that were 
customary at that hour, he walked in the adjoining orchard 
until near nine o’clock. Mammon was uppermost in the place 
of the Deity, and habit offered too strong a barrier to permit 
him to bring, as it were, the false god openly into the presence 
of the true. 


4 


THE SEA LIONS. 


57 


CHAPTER IV. 

“ Oh ! mourn not for them, their grief is o’er, 

Oh ! weep not for them, they weep no more; 

For deep is their sleep, though cold and hard 
Their pillow may be in the old kirk -yard.” 

Bayly. 

Early on the succeeding morning, the whole household of 
Deacon Pratt, himself included, were up and doing. It was as 
the sun came up out of the waters that Mary and her uncle 
met in the porch, as if to greet each other. 

“Yonder comes the Widow White, and seemingly in a great 
hurry,” said the niece, anxiously. “ I am afraid her patient is 
worse !” 

“ He seemed better when I left him last evening, though a 
little tired with talking,” returned the uncle. “The man 
would talk, do all I could to stop him. I wanted to get but 
two or three words from him, and he used a thousand, without 
once using the few I wished most to hear. A talking man is 
that Daggett, I can tell you, Mary !” 

“He’ll never talk ag’in, deacon!” exclaimed the Widow 
White, Avho had got so near as to hear the concluding words 
of the last speaker — “ He’ll never say good or evil more !” 

The deacon was so confounded as to be speechless. As for 
Mary, she expressed her deep regrets that the summons should 
have been so sudden, and that the previous preparation was so 
small ; matters that gave her far more concern than any other 
consideration. They were not loug left to conjectures, the voluble 
widow soon supplying all the facts that had occurred. It ap- 
peared that Daggett died in the tiight, the widow having found ^ 
him stiff and cold on visiting his bedside a few minutes before. 

3 ^ 


58 


THE SEA LIONS. 


That this somewhat unexpected event, as to the time at least, 
was hastened by the excitement of the conversation mentioned, 
there can be little doubt, though no comment was made on the 
circumstance. The immediate cause of death was suffocation 
from the effects of suppuration, as so often occurs in rapid con- 
sumption. 

It would be representing Deacon Pratt as a worse man than 
he actually was, to say that this sudden death had no effect on 
his feelings. For a short time it brought him back to a sense 
of his own age, and condition, and prospects. For half an hour 
these considerations troubled him, but the power of Mammon 
gradually resumed its sway, and the unpleasant images slowly 
disappeared in others that he found more agreeable. Then he 
began seriously to bethink him of what the circumstances re- 
quired to be done. 

As there was nothing unusual in the death of Daggett, the 
investigations of the coroner were not required. It was clearly 
a natural, though a sudden death. It remained, therefore, only 
to give directions about the funeral, and to have an eye to the 
safe-keeping of the effects of the deceased. The deacon as- 
sumed the duty of taking charge of every thing. The chest of 
Daggett was removed to his house for safe-keeping, the key 
having been taken from the pocket of his vest, and the neces- 
sary orders were given for the final disposition of the body. 

The deacon had another serious, and even painful half hour, 
when he first looked upon the corpse. There it lay, a senseless 
shell, deserted by its immortal tenant, and totally unconscious 
of that subject which had so lately and so intensely interested 
them both. It appeared as if the ghastly countenance ex- 
pressed its sense of the utter worthlessness of all earthly 
schemes of wealth and happiness. Eternity seemed stamped 
upon the pinched and sunken features; not eternity in the 
sense of imperishable matter, but in the sense of the fate of 
man. Had all the gold of the Indies laid within his reach, the 
arm of Daggett was now powerless to touch it. His eye could no 


T HE SEA LIONS. 


59 


longer gloat upon treasure, nor any part of liis corporeal sys- 
tem profit by its possession. A more striking commentary on 
the vanity of human wishes could not, just then, have been 
offered to the consideration of the deacon. His moral being 
was very strangely constituted. From early childhood he had 
been accustomed to the cant of religion ; and, in many in- 
stances, impressions had been made on him that produced 
effects that it was easy to confound with the fruits that real 
piety brings forth. This is a result that we often find in a state 
of society in which appearances are made to take the place of 
reality. What is more, it is a result that we may look for 
equally among the formalists of established sects, and among 
the descendants of those who once deserted the homes of their 
fathers in order to escape from the impiety of so meretricious 
an abuse of the substance of godliness. In the case of the lat- 
ter, appearances occupy the mind more than that love of God 
which is the one great test of human conversion from sin to an 
improving state of that holiness, without which we are told no 
man shall see his Creator; without which, indeed, no man 
could endure to look upon that dread Being face to face. 

The deacon had all the forms of godliness in puritanical per- 
fection. He had never taken the “ name of his God in vain,” 
throughout the course of a long life ; but he had abstained from 
’ this revolting and gratuitous sin, more because it was a part of 
the teachings of his youth so to do, and because the neighbors 
would have been shocked at its commission, than because he 
felt the deep reverence for his Maker, which it became the in- 
! significant being that Avas the work of his hand to entertain ; 

I and which would, of itself, most effectually have prevented any 
j wanton use of his holy name, let the neighbors feel or think as 
( they might on the subject. In this way Deacon Pratt might 
I be said to have respected most of the commands of the deca- 
i logue ; not, however, because the spirit of God impelled him, 

I through love, to reverence and obey, but because he had been 
I brought up in a part of the country where it was considered 


60 


THE SEA LIONS. 


seeinly and right to be moral, to the senses, at least, if not to 
the all-seeing eye above. It was in this way that the deacon 
had arrived at his preferment in the meeting. He had ail the 
usual sectarian terms at the end of his tongue ; never uttered a 
careless expression; was regular at meeting; apparently per- 
formed all the duties that his church required of its professors, 
in the way of mere religious observances ; yet was he as far 
from being in that state which St. Paul has described succinctly 
as “ for me to live in Christ, and to die is gain,” as if he had 
been a pagan. It was not the love of God that was active in 
his soul, but the love of self ; and he happened to exhibit his 
passion under these restrained and deceptive forms, simply be- 
cause he had been born and educated in a state of society 
where they composed an integral part of existence. Covetous- 
ness was the deacon’s besetting sin ; and, as it is a vice that 
may be pretty well concealed, with a little attention to appear- 
ances, it was the less likely to expose him to comments than 
almost any other sin. It is true, that the neighborhood some- 
times fancied him “ close,” or, as they expressed it, “ cluss,” and 
men got to look sharply to their own interests in their dealings 
with him; but, on the whole, there was, perhaps, more reason 
to apprehend, in such a community, that the example of so 
good a man should be accepted as authority, than that his acts 
should impeach his character, or endanger his standing. 

Very different were the situation, feelings, and motives of the 
niece. She devoutly loved God, and, as a consequence, all of 
those whom he had created, and placed around her. Her meek 
and gentle spirit led her to worship in sincerity and truth ; and 
all that she thought, said, and did, was under the correction of 
the principles such motives could best produce. Her woman’s 
love for Roswell Gardiner alone troubled her otherwise happy 
and peaceful existence. That, indeed, had caused her more 
than once to falter in her way ; but she struggled with the 
weakness, and had strong hopes of being able to overcome it. 
To accept of any other man as a husband, was in her eyes, im- 


THE SEA LIONS. 


61 


possible ; with the feelings she was fully conscious of entertain- 
ing towards him, it would have been both indelicate and unjust ; 
but, to accept 7i^m, while he regarded the Redeemer as only 
man, however pure and exalted, she felt would be putting her- 
selt willingly, or wilfully, into the hands of the great enemy of 
her salvation. Often and often had she prayed for her lover, 
even more devoutly, and with hotter tears, than she had ever 
prayed for herself; but, so far as she could discover, without 
any visible fruits. His opinions remained unchanged, and his 
frank nature forbade him from concealing their state from 
Mary. In this way, then, was unhappiness stealing on the 
early and innocent hours of one who might, otherwise, have 
been so contented and blessed. It formed a somewhat peculiar 
feature in her case, that her uncle favored the views of her 
suitor. This rendered the trials of the niece so much the more 
severe, as she had no other judgment to sustain her than her 
own, fortified as that was, however, by the consciousness of right, 
and the support of that great Power which never deserts the 
faithful. 

Such was the state of feeling among some of the principal 
actors of our tale, when the sudden death of Daggett occurred. 
Thehody was not removed from the house of the Widow White, 
but the next morning it was conveyed to the “ grave-yard” — 
“ church-yard” would have sounded too episcopal — and interred 
in a corner that was bestowed on the unhonored and unknown. 
It was then, only, that the deacon believed he was the sole de- 
pository of the important secrets. He had the charts in his 
possession, and no more revelations could pass the lips of Dag- 
gett. Should the friends of the deceased sailor hear of his 
death, and come to look after his effects, there was very little 
probability of their finding any thing among them to furnish a 
clue to either the new sealing-ground, or to the buried treasure 
of the pirate. In order to be secured, he even went a little be- 
yond his usual precautions, actually discharging all indebted- 
ness of the deceased to the Widow White out of his own pock- 


62 


THE SEA LIONS. 


et, by giving to her the sum of ten dollars. This was handsome 
compensation in her eyes as well as in his, and he quieted the 
suspicions so great and unusual an act of liberality would be apt 
to awaken, by saying, “ he would look to the friends, or if they 
failed him, to the effects, for his returns ; for it was better he 
should lose by the stranger, than a lone widow.” He also paid 
for the coffin, the digging of the grave, and the other light ex- 
penses of the interment. In a word, the deacon endeavored to 
hush all impertinent inquiries by applying the salve of silver, 
wherever it was needed. 

The chest had been removed to a large, light closet, that 
communicated with the deacon’s own room. When all his ac- 
counts were settled, thither he repaired, armed with the key 
that was to expose so much treasure to his longing eyes. Some 
slight qualms arose, after he had locked himself in the room, 
touching the propriety of his opening the chest. It was not his, 
certainly ; but he put such a construction on the nature of the 
revelations of Daggett, as he thought would fully justify him in 
proceeding. He had purchased the schooner expressly to go 
in quest of the seals and the treasure. This he had done with 
Daggett’s knowledge and acquiescence ; nor did he conceive 
that his own rights were lessened by the mariner’s decease. As 
for himself, the deacon had never believed that the Martha’s 
Vineyard man could accompany the expedition, so that his 
presence or absence could have no influence on his own rights. 
It is true, the deacon possessed no direct legal transfer of the 
charts ; but he inferred that all the previous circumstances gave 
him sufficient claims to justify him in, at least, looking into 
their contents. 

It was a solemn, as well as an anxious moment to the deacon, 
when he first raised the lid of the chest. Solemn, because it 
was not possible to forget the recent decease of its late owner ; 
and anxious, inasmuch as he had no certainty that he should 
find even on the charts, the places of which he sought the lati- 
tudes and longitudes. Certainly, nothing like treasure pre- 


THE SEA LIONS. 


63 


sented itself to liis eyes, when all that Daggett had left behind 
him lay exposed to view. The chest of a common sailor is 
usually but ill-furnished, unless it may be just after his return 
from a long and well-paid voyage, and before he has had time 
to fall back on his purchases of clothes, as a fund to supply his 
cravings for personal gratification. This of Daggett’s formed 
no exception to the rule. The few clothes it contained were of 
the lightest sort, having been procured in warm climates, and 
were well worn, in addition. The palms, needles, and shells, 
and carving in whalebone, had all been sold to meet their owner’s 
wants, and nothing of that sort remained. There were two old, 
dirty, and ragged charts, and on these the deacon laid his 
hands, much as the hawk, in its swoop, descends on its prey. 
As it did, however, a tremor came over him, that actually 
compelled him to throw himself into a chair, and to rest for a 
moment. 

The first of the charts opened, the deacon saw, at a glance, 
was that of the antarctic circle. There, sure enough, was laid 
down in ink, three or four specks for islands, with lat. — °, — ", 
and long. — °, — ", written out, at its side. We are under 
obligations not to give the figures that stand on the chart, for 
the discovery is deemed to be important, by those who possess 
the secret, even to the present hour. We are at liberty to tell 
the whole story, with this one exception ; and we shall proceed 
to do so, with a proper regard to the pledges made in the 
premises. 

The deacon scarcely breathed, as he assured himself of the 
important fact just mentioned, and his hands trembled to such 
a degree as to fairly cause the paper of the chart to rattle. Then 
he had recourse to an expedient that was strictly characteristic 
of the man. He wrote the latitude and longitude in a memo- 
randum-book that he carried on his person ; after which he again 
sat down, and with gi-eat care erased the island and the writing 
from the chart, with the point of a penknife. This done, his 
mind felt infinitely relieved. Nor was this all. Charts pur- 


64 


THE SEA LION . 


chased for the schooner were lying on a table in his own room, 
and he projected on one of them, as well as his skill would 
allow, the sealing-islands he had just removed from the chart 
left by Daggett. There he also wrote, in pencil, the important 
figures that we are commanded not to reveal. 

The second chart was then opened. It was of the West 
Indies, and particularly of certain keys. One of these last was 
pointed out in a way to leave no doubt that it was meant for the 
key indicated by the pirate. The same prohibition existing as 
to this key that exists in respect to the sealing-island, we can 
not be more explicit. The writing near this key being in pen 
cil, it was effectually removed by means of india-rubber. When 
this was done, the deacon used the precaution to rub some ma- 
terial on the clean place made by his knife, on the other chart, 
when he believed no eye could detect what had just been done. 
Having marked the proper key on his own chart of the West 
Indies, he replaced the charts of Daggett in the chest, and 
locked all up again. The verbal accounts of the sick mariner 
he had already transferred to paper, and he now believed him- 
self secure of all the information that was necessary to render 
him the richest man in Suffolk ! 

When they next met, Mary was surprised at the gayety of her 
uncle, and that so soon after a funeral. He had a lightened 
heart, however ; for, after leading him on, step by step, until 
he had gone so far as to purchase and fit out the schooner, 
Daggett had pertinaciously refused to enter into those minute 
particulars which it is even now forbidden us to state, and a 
want of which would have rendered his previous expenditures 
useless. Death, however, had lifted the veil, and the deacon 
now believed himself secure in his knowledge. 

An hour or two later. Deacon Pratt and his niece were seated, 
in company with two others, at the dinner-table. The fare was 
simple, but good. Fish enters largely into the domestic con- 
sumption of all those who dwell near the water, in that part of 
the country ; and, on that particular occasion, the uncle had, in 


THE SEA LIONS. 


65 


the lightness of his heart, indulged in what, for him, was a 
piece of extravagance. In all such regions there are broken- 
down, elderly men, who live by taking fish. Liquor has usually 
been their great enemy, and all have the same generic charac- 
ter of laziness, shiftless and ill-regulated exertions, followed by 
much idleness, and fits of intemperance, that in the end com- 
monly cause their death. Such a man fished between Oyster 
Pond and Shelter Island, being known to all who dwelt within 
his beat, by the familiar appellation of Baiting Joe. 

Shortly after the discovery of the latitudes and longitudes on 
the charts, the deacon had gone to the wharf, in his impatience 
to see how Roswell Gardiner got on with the Sea Lion. The 
young man, with his gang of hands, was hard at work, and a 
very material difference was to be observed in the state of the 
schooner, from that in which she was described in our opening 
chapter. Her rigging had all been set up, every spar was in its 
place, and altogether she had a look of preparation and com- 
pleteness. Her water was taking in, and from time to time a 
country wagon, or an ox-cart, delivered alongside articles be- 
longing to her stores. Of cargo, proper, there was none, or 
, next to none; a sealer carrying little besides salt, and her 

■ stores. In a word, the work was rapidly advancing, and “ Cap- 
j tain Gar’ner” told his impatient owner that the craft would be 
i ready to put to sea in all that week. 

■ “ I have succeeded in engaging the first officer I wanted,” 
j added the young man, “ and he is now busy in looking up and 
I shipping hands, at Stonington. ’ We must get half-a-dozen re- 
liable men on the main, and then we can take some of our 
neighbors here, as beginners, just to please them.” 

“Yes, ship a goodly number of green hands,” smd the dea- 
con, zealously. “They work at cheap ‘lays,’ and leave the 
owners the greater profits. Well, well. Captain Gar’ner, things 
seem to be doing well in your* hands, and I will leave you. 
About two hours after dinner, I shall want to have a word with 
you in private, and will thank you just to step across to the 


66 


THE SEA LIONS. 


house, where you will be certain to find me. Baiting Joe seems 
to have hooked something there, in ’arnest.” 

“That has he! I’ll answer for it that he has a sheeps- 
head at the eud of his line that will weigh eight or ten 
pounds.” 

The words of Gardiner proved true, for Joe actually pulled in 
a fish of the description and weight he had just mentioned. 
It was this sight that, in the lightness of his heart, tempted the 
deacon to a little extravagance. Joe was called ashore, and 
after a good deal of chaffering, the deacon bought the prize for 
half a dollar. As Mary was celebrated for her skill in prepar- 
ing this particular fish, the deacon, before he left the wharfj 
with the sheepshead hanging from one hand, fairly invited 
“ Captain Gar’ner” so to time his visit to the house, as to be 
present at the feast. 

Nor was this all. Before the deacon had settled with Joe, 
the Kev. Mr. Whittle came on the wharf, confessedly in quest of 
something to eat. The regular occupations of this divine were 
writing sermons, preaching, holding conferences, marrying, 
christening and burying, and hunting up “ something to eat.” 
About half of his precious time was consumed in the last of 
these pursuits. We do not wish to represent this clergyman as 
having an undue gastronomic propensity ; but, as having a due 
one, and a salary that was so badly paid, as quite to disable 
him from furnishing his larder, or cellar, with any thing worth 
mentioning, in advance. Now, he was short of flour ; then, the 
potatoes were out ; next, the pork was consumed ; and always 
there was a great scarcity of groceries, and other necessaries of 
that nature. This neglect on the part of the parishioners, 
coupled witii a certain improvidence on that of the pastor, lefi; 
the clergyman’s family completely in that state which is usually 
described as being in the “ from hand to mouth” condition, and 
which consequently occupied so large a portion of the good 
man’s time in “providing.” 

Deacon Pratt felt a little conscious and awkward, at encoun- 


THE SEA I. IONS. 


67 


tering the Rev. Mr. Whittle. It was not the fish that caused 
the first any concern. Fifty times had he met and gone by his 
pastor, running about with a perplexed and hungry look, when 
his own hands, or chaise, or wagon, as the case might be, con- 
tained enough to render the divine’s family happy and con- 
tented for a week. No compunctions of that sort ever troubled 
the deacon’s breast. But, he had missed the afternoon’s meet- 
ing the last Sabbath, a delinquency for which he felt an awk- 
wardness in accounting, while he saw its necessity. The salu- 
tations passed as usual, the one party thinking intently on the 
absence from service, and the other of the sheepshead. Now, 
it happily occurred to the deacon to invite his pastor also to 
partake of the fish. There was enough for all ; and, though no 
one on Oyster Pond was much in the habit of entertaining at 
dinner, it was by no means unusual for the parishioners to have 
their pastor for a guest. This lucky invitation so occupied the 
parties that nothing was said about an occurrence so very un- 
usual as the deacon’s absence from “ meeting” the “ last Sabba’ 
day afternoon.” 

By these simple means the party at table consisted of the 
deacon himself, Mary, Roswell Gardiner, and the Rev. Mr. 
Whittle. The fish was excellent, being so fresh and so skil- 
fully prepared ; and Mary was highly complimented by all who 
ate of it, for her share in the entertainment. But Mary Pratt 
seemed sad. She had not yet recovered from the melancholy 
feelings awakened by the recent death and funeral ; and then 
her thoughts recurred, with few interruptions, to the long voy- 
age of Roswell, and most especially to the unhappy state of 
religious belief in which he would undertake so hazardous an 
expedition. Several times had she hinted to the clergyman her 
desire that he would “talk to Roswell;” but the good .man, 
though well enough inclined, had really so much to do in 
“ providing,” that it was not a very easy matter for him to go 
beyond the beaten track, in order to probe the consciences of 
particular individuals. He promised fairly, but always forgot 


68 


THE SEA LIONS. 


to perform ; and in this he imitated closely the example set 
him by his parishioners, in reference to his own salary. 

Roswell Gardiner, therefore, remained in his unbelief; or, 
what was tantamount to it, under the influence of a set of opin- 
ions that conflicted with all that the Church had taught since 
the time of the apostles — at least so thought Mary, and so 
think we. 

On the contrary, the pastor and the deacon were particularly 
gay, for men of their habitual sobriety. Although those were 
not the days of temperance, par excellence^ neither of the guests 
was what might be termed even a moderate drinker. For a 
novelty in a sailor, Roswell Gardiner seldom touched any thing 
but water, while the other two took their rum and water ; but it 
was in moderation, as all the gifts of God should be used. As 
for the intemperate cry which makes it a sin to partake of any 
liquor, however prudently, it was then never heard in the 
land. On the whole, the clergy of all denominations might be 
set down as brandy-and-water men, a few occasionally carry- 
ing out their principle to exaggeration. But the Rev. Mr. 
Whittle was a sober man, and, though he saw no great harm 
in enlivening his heart and cheering his spirits with brandy 
taken in small quantities, he was never known to be any the 
worse for his libations. It was the same with ‘the deacon, 
though he drank rum and water of choice; and no other 
beverage, Mary’s currant-wine and cider excepted, was ever 
seen on his table. 

One thing may be said of liquor, whether it be in its favor 
or not : it usually brings out all there is of the facetious in a 
man, rendering him conversable and pleasant; for the time 
being at least. This was apt to be peculiarly the case with the 
Rev. Mr. Whittle and his deacons. In their ordinary inter- 
course with their fellow-creatures, these good people had taken 
up the idea that, in order to be religious, their countenances 
must be sombre, and that care and anxiety should be stamped 
on their faces, just as if they had.no confidence in the efficacy 


THE SEA LIONS. 


69 


of the redemption. Few, indeed, are they who vindicate their 
professions by living at peace with God and man ! At Oyster 
Pond it was much the fashion to imagine that the more a per- 
son became impressed with the truths of his^ and particularly 
with those of her, lost condition, the more it became the party 
to be cynical, and to pry into, and comment, on the backslid- 
ings of the entire community. This weakness, however, was 
characteristic of neither the pastor nor the deacon, each of 
whom regarded his professions too much in the light of a regu- 
lar “ business transaction,” to descend into these little abuses. 
As for Mary, good creature, her humility was so profound as to 
cause her to ^believe herself among the weakest and least fa- 
vored of all who belonged to meeting. 

“ I was sorry that my late journey into Connecticut pre- 
vented my seeing the poor man who was so suddenly taken 
away from the house of Widow White,” observed the Rev. Mr. 
Whittle, some little time after he had made his original attack 
on the sheepshead. “ They tell me it was a hopeless case from 
the first ?” 

“ So Dr. Sage considered it,” answered the deacon. “ Cap- 
tain Gar’ner volunteered to go across for the doctor in my 
boat,” — with a heavy emphasis on the possessive pronoun-^ 
“ and we had him to look at the patient. But, if the salt-water 
he good for consumptive people, as some pretend, I think there 
is generally little hope for seamen whose lungs once give way.” 

“ The poor man was a mariner, was he ? I did not know 
his calling, but had rather got the impression that he was a 
husbandman. Did he belong to Oyster Pond ?” 

“No ; we have none of the name of Daggett here, which is 
a tribe on the Vineyard. Most of the Daggetts are sea-faring 
folks (folk, Anglic^), and this man was one of that class, I be- 
lieve ; though I know nothing of him, or of his pursuits, except 
by a word, here and there, dropped in discourse.” 

The deacon thought himself safe in Venturing this little de- 
parture from the literal truth, inasmuch as no one had been 


THE SEA LIONS. 


10 

present, or he thought no one had ever been present at his 
many secret conferences with the deceased mariner. Little, 
however, did he understand the character of the Widow White, 
if he flattered himself with holding any discourse under her 
roof in which she w'as not to participate in its subject. So far 
from this having been the case, the good woman had contrived 
to obtain, not only a listening-place, but a peeping-hole, where 
she both heard and saw most of that which passed between her 
guest and the deacon. Had her powers of comprehension been 
equal to her will, or had not her mind been prepossessed with 
the notion that the deacon must be after herself, old Suffolk 
would have rung with the marvels that were thus revealed. 
Not only would an unknown sealing-island been laid before the 
East-enders, but twenty such islands, and keys without number, 
each of which contained more hidden treasure than “ Gar’ner’s 
Island,” Oyster Pond, the Plumb and Fisher’s, and all the 
coasts of the Sound put together ; enriched as each and all 
of these places w'ere thought to be, by the hidden deposits of 
Kidd. 

Nothing but an accident had prevented these rumors from 
being circulated. It happened that on only one occasion Dag- 
gett was explicit and connected in his narrative. At all other 
times his discourse was broken, consisting more in allusions to 
what had been previously said than in direct and clear revela- 
tions. The widow, most unfortunately for her means of infor- 
mation, was with “ neighbor Stone” wLen the connected narra- 
tive was given, and all that she knew was disjointed, obscure, 
and a little contradictory. Still, it was sufficient to set her 
thinking intensely, and sufficient to produce a material influ- 
ence on the future fortunes of the Sea Lion, as will appear in 
the sequel. 

“ It is always a misfortune for a human being to take his 
departure away from home and friends,” observed the Rev. 
Mr. Whittle. “ Here was an immortal soul left to take its last 
great flight, unsupported, I dare say, except by the prayers of 


THE SEA LIONS. 


11 


a few pious neighbors. I regret having been absent during the 
time he was here. Getting home of a Friday only, I was com- 
pelled to devote Saturday to preparations for the Sabbath ; and 
Sabbath-night, as I understand it, he departed.” 

“ We are all in the hands of Divine Providence,” said the 
deacon, with a sober mien, “ and it is our duty to submit. To 
my thinking. Oyster Pond catches more than its share of the 
poor and needy, who are landed from vessels passing east and 
west, and add considerably to our burdens.” 

This was said of a spot as much favored by Divine Provi- 
dence, in the way of abundance, as any other in highly-favored 
America. Some eight or ten such events as the landing of a 
stranger had occurred within the last half century, and this was 
the only instance in which either of them had cost the deacon 
a cent. But, so little was he accustomed, and so little was he 
disposed to give, that even a threatened danger of that sort 
amounted, in his eyes, nearly to a loss. 

“Well,” exclaimed the literal Roswell Gardiner, “I think, 
deacon, that we have no great reason to complain. Southold, 
Shelter Island, and all the islands about here, for that matter, 
are pretty well off as to poor, and it is little enough that we 
have to pay for their support.” 

“ That’s the idea of a young man who never sees the tax- 
gatherers,” returned the deacon. “ However, there are islands. 
Captain Gar’ner, that are better off still, and I hope you will 
live to find them.” 

“ Is our young friend to sail in the Sea Lion in quest of any 
such ?” inquired the pastor, a little curiously. 

The deacon now repented him of the allusion. But his heart 
had warmed with the subject, and the rum-and-water had un- 
locked some of its wards. So timid and nervous had he become, 
however, that the slightest indication of any thing like a suspi- 
cion that his secrets were known, threw him into a sweat. 

“ Not at all — not at all — the captain goes on well-known and 
beaten ground — Sam, what is wanting, now ?” 


72 


TH E SEA LIONS. 


“ Here is Baiting Joe corned up from the wharf, wanting to 
see master,” returned a gray-headed negro, who had formerly 
been a slave, and who now lived about the place, giving his 
services for his support. 

“ Baiting Joe ! He is not after his sheepshead, I hope. If 
he is, he is somewhat late in the day.” 

“ Ay, ay,” put in the young sailor, laughing. “ Tell him, Sam, 
that no small part of it is bound to the southward, meaning to 
cross the line in my company, and that right soon.” 

“ I paid Joe his half-dollar, certainly — you saw me pay him, 
Captain Gar’ner.” 

“ I don’t think it’s any sich thing, master. There is a stranger 
with Joe, that he has ferried across from Shelter Island, and 
corned up from the wharf too. Yes— that’s it, master.” 

A stranger ! Who could it be ? A command was given to 
admit him, and no sooner did Mary get a sight of his person, 
than she quietly arose to procure a plate, in order that he, too, 
might have his share of the fish. 


THE SEA LIONS. 


73 


CHAPTER V. 

“ Stranger 1 I fled the home of grief, 

At Connocht Moran’s tomb to fall ; 

I found the helmet of my chief, 

His bow still hanging on our wall.” 

Campbell. 

“ Amphibious !” exclaimed Roswell Gardiner, in an aside to 
Mary, as the stranger entered the room, following Baiting Joe’s 
lead. The last only came for his glass of rum-and-water, served 
with which, by the aid of the negro, he passed the hack of his 
hand across his mouth, napkin-fashion, nodded his “good-day,” 
and withdrew. As for the stranger, Roswell Gardiner’s term 
being particularly significant, it may be well to make ^ brief 
explanation. 

The word “ amphibious” is,, or rather was^ well applied to 
many of the seamen, whalers, and sealers, who dwelt on the 
eastern end of Long Island, or the Vineyard, around Stoning- 
ton, and perhaps we might add, in the vicinity of New Bedford. 
The Nantucket men had not base enough, in the way of terra 
firma, to come properly within the category. The class to 
which the remark strictly applied were sailors without being 
seamen, in the severe signification of the term. While they 
could do all that was indispensably necessary to take care of 
their vessels, were surpassed by no other mariners in enterprise, 
and daring, and hardihood, they knew little about “ crowning 
cables,” “ carrick-bends,” and all the mysteries of “ knotting,” 
“ grafiSng,” and “ splicing.” A regular Delaware Bay seaman 
would have turned up his nose in contempt at many of their 
ways, and at much of their real ignorance ; but, when it came 

4 


74 


THE SEA LIONS. 


to the drag, or to the oar, or to holding out in bad weather, or 
to any of the more manly qualities of the business, he would be 
certain to yield his respect to those at whom it had originally 
been his disposition to laugh. It might best describe these 
men to say that they bore some such relation to the thorough- 
bred tar, as the volunteer bears to the regular soldier. 

As a matter of course, the stranger was invited to take his 
seat at the table. This he did without using many phrases ; and 
Mary had reason to believe, by his appetite, that he thought 
well of her culinary skill. There was very little of the sheeps- 
head left when this, its last assailant, shoved his plate back, the 
signal that he could do no more. He then finished a glass of 
rum-and-water, and seemed to be in a good condition to trans- 
act the business that had brought him there.* Until this mo- 
ment, he had made no allusion to the motive of his visit, leav- 
ing the deacon full of conjectures. 

“ The fish of Peconic and Gar’ner’s is as good as any I know,” 
coolly observed this worthy, after certainly having established 
some claim to give an opinion on the subject. “We think our- 
selves’pretty well off, in this respect, on the Vineyard — ” 

“ On the Vineyard !” interrupted the deacon, without waiting 
to hear what was to follow. 

“Yes, sir, on Martha’s Vineyard, for that’s the place I come 
from. Perhaps I ought to have introduced myself a little more 
particularily. I come from Martha’s Vineyard, and my name 
is Daggett.” 

The deacon fairly permitted the knife, with whicU he was 
spreading some butter, to fall upon his plate. “ Daggett” and 
the “Vineyard” sounded ominously. Could it be that Dr. 
Sage had managed to get a message so far, in so short a time ; 
and had this amphibious inhabitant of the neighboring island 
come already to rob him of his treasure ? The perceptions of 
the deacon, at first, were far from clear ; and he even imagined 
that all he had expended on the Sea Lion was thrown away, 
and that he might be even called on to give some sort of an 


THE SEA LIONS. 


75 


account, in a court of chancery, of the information obtained 
from the deceased. A little reflection, however, sufficed to get 
the better of this weakness, and he made a civil inclination of 
his head, as much as to tell the stranger, notwithstanding his 
name and place of residence, that he was welcome. Of course, 
no one but the deacon himself knew of the thoughts that 
troubled him, and after a very brief delay, the guest proceeded 
with his explanations of the object of his visit. 

“ The Daggetts are pretty numerous on the Vineyard,” con- 
tinued tlie stranger, “ and when you name one of them, it is 
not always easy to tell just what family he belongs to. One of 
our coasters came into the Hull (Holmes’ Hole was meant) a 
few weeks since, and reported that she spoke an inward-bound 
brig, oflf New Haven, from which she heard that the people of 
that craft had put ashore, at Oyster Pond, a seafaring man, 
who belonged to the Vineyard, and who was bound home, arter 
an absence of fifty years, and whose name was Thomas Daggett. 
The word passed through the island, and a great stir it made 
among all us Daggetts. There’s plenty of our Vineyard people 
wandering about the ’arth, and sometimes one drops in upon 
the island, just to die. As most of them that come back bring 
something with them, it’s gen’rally thought a good sign to hear 
of their arrival. After casting about, and talking with all the 
old folks, it has been concluded that this Thomas Daggett must 
be a brother of my father’s, who -went to sea about fifty years 
since, and has never been seen or heard of since. He’s the only 
person of the name for whom we can’t account, and the family 
have got me to come across to look him up.” 

“ I am sorry, Mr. Daggett, that you are so late,” answered 
the deacon, slowly, as if unwilling to give pain. “Had you 
come last week, you might have seen and conversed with your 
relation ; or had you come early this morning, only, you might 
have attended his funeral. He came among us a stranger, and 
we endeavored to imitate the conduct of the good Samaritan. 
I believe he had all the comforts that Oyster Pond can give ; 


76 


THE SEA LIONS. 


and, certainly, he had the best advice. Dr. Sage, of Sag Har- 
bor, attended him in his last illness — Dr. Sage, of the Harbor : 
doubtless you have heard him mentioned ?” 

“ I know him by reputation, and make no doubt all was done 
that could be done. As the sloop I named lay by the brig 
some time, in a calm, the two captains had a long talk together ; 
and ours had prepared us to hear of our kinsman’s speedy dis- 
solution. He was in a decline when he landed, and we sup- 
pose that no human skill could have saved him. As he had so 
skilful a physician, and one who came so far, I suppose my 
uncle must have left property ?” 

This was a home-thrust ; but, fortunately for the deacon, he 
had already prepared himself with an answer. 

“ Sea-faring men, that are landed on points and capes, from 
inward-bound vessels, are not very apt to be overloaded with 
worldly goods,” he said, smiling. “ When a man prospers in 
that calling, he usually comes ashore at a wharf, in some large 
place, and gets into his coach to ride up to some grand tavern ! 
I have remarked, pastor, that sea-faring men love comforts and 
free-living, unaccountably, when they can fairly get a chance 
at ’em.” 

“ That is natural, deacon — quite natural ; and what is nat- 
ural, is very likely to happen. The natural man loves all sorts 
of indulgences, and these among others.” 

As there was no gainsaying this commonplace commentary 
on the species, it was permitted to pass unanswered. 

“ I hope my kinsman has not been a burden to any on Oys- 
ter Pond ?” said the nephew, inquiringly. 

“ I cannot say that he has,” returned the deacon. “ He was 
at little cost at first, and got along by selling a few odd things 
that he owned. As Providence had placed him in the dwelling 
of a poor widow, I thought it might be pleasing to the friends 
— and every man has some friends, I suppose — to settle with 
her. This I did, this very morning, taking her receipt in full, 
as you can see passing the paper to the stranger. “ As a sort 


/• 


THE SEA LIONS. 


nn 

of security for my advances, I had the chest of the deceased re- 
moved to this house ; and it is now up-stairs, ready to be ex- 
amined. It feeis light, and I do not think much silver or gold 
will be found in it.” 

To own the truth, the Vineyard seaman looked a little dis- 
appointed. It was so natural that a man who has been absent 
fifty years should bring back the fruits of his labor, that he had 
expected some slight reward for the trouble he was now taking, 
to be bestowed in this particular form. This, however, was not 
the specific object of his visit, as will appear as we proceed. 
Keeping in view his real motive, the nephew continued his in- 
quiries, always putting his questions a little indirectly, and 
receiving answers that were as evasive and cautious as his own 
interrogatories. All this was characteristic of the wary people 
from which both had sprung, who seldom speak, in a matter of 
business, without bearing in mind all the possible constructions 
of what they are saying. After a discourse of some fifteen 
minutes, in which the history of the chest, in its outlines, was 
fully given, and during which the stranger produced written 
evidence of his right to interfere, it was determined to make an 
inventory, on the spot, of the property left by Daggett, for the 
benefit of all who might have any interest in it. Accordingly, 
the whole party, including Mary, was soon assembled in the 
deacon’s own room, with the sea-chest placed invitingly in the 
centre. All eyes were fastened on the lid, in curious anticipa- 
tions of the contents ; for, the deacon excepted, all supposed 
that those contents were a profound secret. The Widow 
White could have told them better, she having rummaged that 
chest a dozen times, at least, though without abstracting even 
a pin. Curiosity had been her ruling motive, far more than 
cupidity. It is true, the good woman had a prudent regard to 
her own interests, and felt some anxiety to learn the prospects 
of her receiving the stipulated price for board — only |1.50 per 
week — but the sales of the needles, and palms, and carved 
whale-bone, having kept her accounts reasonably square, solid- 


78 


THE SEA LIONS. 


tude on this particular interest was not at its height. No: 
curiosity, pure female curiosity, a little quickened by the pas- 
sion which is engendered among the vulgar by the possession 
of a slight degree of instruction, was really at the bottom of her 
researches. Not only had she handled every article in the 
chest, but she had read, and re-read, every paper it contained, 
half-a-dozen letters included, and made her own surmises on 
their nature. Still, the good woman was very little the wiser 
for her inquiries. Of the great secret she knew absolutely 
no'thiug,* unless the broken hints collected in her many listen- 
ings, could be so considered. But here her ignorance ceased. 
Every hole in a shirt, every patch in a pair of trowsers, and 
every darn in a stocking, had been examined, and its probable 
effect on the value of the garment duly estimated. The only 
thing that had escaped her scrutiny was a small till that was 
locked. Into that she could not look, and there were moments 
when she would have parted with a finger in order to over- 
haul it. 

“ This jacket might sell for a dollar,” had the Widow White 
calculated, “but for the hole in the elbow; and that, well- 
patched, would bring seventy-five cents. Them trowsers must 
have cost two dollars, but they aren’t worth half-price now. 
That pee-jacket is the best article in the chest, and, sent across 
to the Harbor, about the time the ships are going out, it would 
bring enough to maintain Daggett a month !” 

Such had been the character of the widow’s visitations to the 
chest, though no one knew any thing of her discoveries, not 
even her sister-relict, neighbor Stone. 

“ Here is the key,” said the deacon, producing that instru- 
ment from the drawer of a table, as if he had laid it carefully 
aside for some such moment. “ I dare say it will be found to 
fit, for I remember to have seen Daggett use it once or twice 
myself.” 

Roswell Gardiner, as the youngest man, and the one on 
whom the laboring oar ought to fall, now took the key, applied 


'I'HE SEA LIONS. 


79 


it to the lock, tui ned it without difficulty, and then lifted the 
lid. Disappointment appeared on every face but that of the 
deacon, at the meager prospect before the company. Not only 
was the chest more than half empty, but the articles it did 
contain were of the coarsest materials ; well-worn sea-clothes 
that had seen their best days, and which had never been more 
than the coarse, common attire of a foremast hand. 

“ There is little here to pay a man for crossing from the 
Vineyard,” observed Roswell Gardiner, a little drily ; for he did 
not half like the appearance of cupidity that shone through the 
nephew’s tardy concern for the fate of the uncle. “ The last 
voyage has not been prosperous, I fear, or the owners failed be- 
fore the vessel got in ! What is to be done with all this dun- 
nage, deacon ?” 

“ It would be best to take out the contents, article by arti- 
cle,” answered the other, “ and examine each and all. Now 
that we have made a beginning with the inventory, it is best to 
go through with it.” 

The young man obeyed, calling out the name of each article 
of dress, as he raised it from its receptacle, and passing it over 
to him who stood there in the character of a sort of heir-at- 
law. The last gave each garment a sharp look, and prudently 
put his hand into every pocket, in older to make sure that it 
was empty, before he laid the article on the floor. Nothing 
was discovered for some time, until a small key was found in 
the fob of a pair of old “go-ashore” pantaloons. As there 
was the till to the chest already mentioned, and a lock on that 
till, the heir-at-law kept the key, saying nothing touching its 
existence. 

“ The deceased does not appear to have been much afliicted 
with this world’s wealth,” said the Rev. Mr. Whittle, whose 
expectations, to own the truth, had been a little disappointed. 
“ This may have been all the better for him, when the moment 
of departure drew near.” 

“ I dare say he would have borne the burden cheerfully,” 


80 


THE SEA LIONS. 


put in Roswell Gardiner, “ to have been a little more comfort- 
able. I never knew a person, seaman or landsman, who was 
ever the worse for having things snug about him, and for hold- 
ing oil to the better end of his cheer, as long as he could.” 

“ Your notion of what is best for man as he draws near to 
his end. Captain Gar’ner, is not likely to be of the most ap- 
proved nature. The sea does not produce many very orthodox 
divines.” 

The young sailor colored, bit his lip, cast a glance at Mary, 
and began a nearly inaudible whistle. In a moment he forgot 
the rebuke he had received, and laughingly went on with the 
inventory. 

“ Well,” he cried, “ this is rather a poorer outfit than Jack 
is apt to carry ! /wfit, I suppose it should be called, as the 
poor fellow who owned it was inward bound, when he brought 
up on Oyster Pond. You’ll hardly think it worth while. Cap- 
tain Daggett, to take this dunnage across to the Vineyard ?” 

“ It is scarce worth the trouble, though friends and relations 
may set a value on it that strangers do not. I see a couple of 
charts there — will you hand them this way, if you please ? 
They may have a value with a sea-faring man, as old mariners 
sometimes make notes that are worth as much as the charts 
themselves.” 

This was said very naturally and simply ; but it gave the 
deacon a good deal of concern. Nor was this feeling at all 
lessened by the earnest, not to say eager, manner in which 
Daggett, as we shall now call this member of the family, spread 
the chart on the bed, and began to pry into its records. The 
particular chart first opened in this way, was the one including 
the antarctic circle, and, of course, was that from which the 
deacon had been at so much pains to erase the sealing-islands, 
that the deceased mariner had laid down with so great precision 
and care. It was evident that the Martha’s Vineyard-man was 
looking for something that he could not find, and that he felt 
disappointment. Instead of looking at the chart, indeed, he 


THE SEA LIONS. 


81 


may be said to have been peering at it, in all its holes and 
crannies, of which there were not a few, in consequence of the 
torn condition of the paper. Several minutes elapsed ere the 
investigation terminated, the stranger seeming, all that time, to 
feel no interest in the remainder of his relation’s wardrobe. 

“This is an old chart, and of the date of 1802,” observed 
Daggett, raising himself erect, as a man who has long been 
bent takes the creaks out of his back. “ So old a chart as to be 
of little use now-a-day. Our sealers have gone over so much 
of the ground to the southward of the two capes, as to be able 
to do much better than this now.” 

“ Your uncle had the appearance of an old-fashioned sailor,” 
coldly observed the deacon ; “ and it may be that he most liked 
old-fashioned charts.” 

“ If such was the case he must have pretty well forgotten his 
Vineyard schooling. There is not a woman there who doesn’t 
know that the latest chart is commonly the best. I own I’m 
disapp’inted somewhat ; for the master of the sloop gave me to 
understand he had heard from the master of the brig, that 
some valuable information was to be found on the old gentle- 
man’s charts.” 

The deacon started, as here was an indication that the de- 
ceased had talked of his knowledge to others, as well as to him- 
self ! It was so natural for a man like Daggett to boast of what 
i his charts were worth, that he saw the extreme probability that 
a difficulty might arise from this source. It was his cue, how- 
I; ever, to remain silent, and let the truth develop itself in due 
L course. His attention was not likely to be drawn aside by the 
' shirts and old clothes, for the stranger began a second time to 
! examine the chart, and what was more, in the high latitudes at 
I no great distance from the very spot where the sealing-islands 
r had been placed, and from which they had been so carefully 
erased. 

j: “ It is unaccountable that a man should wear out a chart 

t like this, and leave so few notes on it !” said the Vineyard-man, 

4 * 


82 


THE SEA LIONS. 


much as one complains of a delinquency. “Here is white water 
noted in the middle of the ocean, where I dare say no other 
white water was seen hut that which is made by a fish, and 
nothing is said of any islands. What do you think of this, 
Captain Gar’ner ?” laying his finger on the precise spot where 
the deacon had been at work so long that very morning erasing 
the islands. “ This looks well-fingered, if nothing else, eh ?” 

“ It’s a shoal laid dowm in dirt,” answered Roswell Gardiner, 
laughing. “ Let’s see ; that’s about lat. — ° — ", and long. 
— ® — ". There can be no known land thereaway, as even Cap- 
tain Cook did not succeed in getting as far south. That’s been 
a favorite spot with the skipper for taking hold of his chart. 
I’ve known one of those old-fashioned chaps put his hand on a 
chart, in that way, and never miss his holding-ground for three 
years on a stretch. Mighty go-by-rule people are some of our 
whaling-masters, in particular, who think they know the coun- 
tenances of some of the elderly fish, who are too cunning to let 
a harpoon get fast to ’em.” 

“You’ve been often in them seas, I some think. Captain 
Gar’ner ?” said the other, inquiringly. 

“ I was brought up in the business, and have a hankering for 
it yet,” returned the young man, frankly. “ Nor do I care so 
much for charts. They are well enough when a vessel is on 
her road ; but, as for whales or seals, the man who wishes to 
find either, in these times, has to look for them, as I tell my 
owner. According to reports, the time has been when a craft 
had only to get an offing to fall in with something that was 
worth putting a harpoon into ; but those days are gone. Captain 
Daggett ; and whales are to be looked after, out at sea, much 
as money is to be looked for ashore here.” 

“Is the craft I saw at the wharf fitting out for a whaler, 
then ?” 

“ She is going after luck, and will accept of it, in whatever 
form it may turn up.” 

“ She is rather small for the whaling business, though vessels 


THE SEA LIONS. 


83 


of that size have done well, by keeping close in upon our own 
coast.” 

“We shall know better what she will do after she has been 
tried,” returned Gardiner, evasively. “What do you think of 
her for the Banks of Newfoundland ?” 

The Martha’s Vineyard-man gave his brother-tar a quick, 
impatient glance, which pretty plainly said, “ tell that to the 
marines,” when he opened the second chart, which as yet had 
been neglected. 

“Sure enough,” he muttered, in a low tone, though loud 
enough to be heard by the keenly attentive deacon ; “ here it 
is — a chart of the West Indies, and of all the keys !” 

By this casual, spontaneous outbreaking, as it might be, the 
deacon got another clue to the stranger’s knowledge, that gave 
him increased uneasiness. He was now convinced that, by 
means of the masters of the brig and the sloop, such informa- 
tion had been sent to the relatives of Daggett as had prepared 
them to expect the very revelations on which he hoped to es- 
tablish his own fortunes. To what extent these revelations had 
been made, of course he could only conjecture ; but there must 
have been a good deal of particularity to induce the individual 
who had come over to Oyster Pond to look into the two charts 
so closely. Under the circumstances, therefore, he felicitated 
himself on the precaution he had so early taken to erase the 
important notations from the paper. 

“ Captain Gar’ner, your eyes are younger than mine,” said 
the Vineyard-man, holding the chart up to the light — “ will you 
be good enough to look here ? — does it not seem as if that key 
had been noted, and the words rubbed off the chart ?” 

This caused the deacon to peer over Boswell Gardiner’s 
shoulder, and glad enough was he to ascertain that the stranger 
had placed his finger on a key that must lie several hundred 
miles from that which was supposed to hold the buried treasure 
of the pirates. Something like an erasure did appear at the in- 
dicated point ; but the chart was so old and dirty, that little 


S4 


THE SEA LIONS. 


satisfaction could be had by examining it. Should the inquirer 
settle down on the key he evidently had in his eye, all would 
be well, since it was far enough from the spot really noted. 

“ It is strange that so old a seafaring man should wear out a 
chart, and make no observations on it !” repeated the stranger, 
who was both vexed and at a loss what to conjecture. “ All 
my charts are written over and marked off, just as if I meant 
to get out an edition for myself.” 

“ Men differ in their tastes and habits,” answered Roswell 
Gardiner, carelessly. “ Some navigators are forever finding 
rocks, and white water, and scribbling on their charts, or in the 
newspapers, when they get back ; but I never knew any good 
come of it. The men who make the charts are most to be 
trusted. For my part, I would not give a sixpence for a note 
made by a man who passes a shoal or a rock, in a squall or a 
gale.” 

“ What would you say to the note of a sealer who should lay 
down an island where the seals lie about on the beach like pigs 
in a pen, sunning themselves? Would you not call a chart so 
noted a treasure ?” 

“ That would alter the case, sure enough,” returned Gardiner, 
laughing; “though I should not think of looking into this chest 
for any such riches. Most of our masters navigate too much at 
random to make their charts of any great value. They can find 
the places they look for themselves, but don’t seem to know 
how to tell other people the road. I have known my old man 
lay down a shoal that he fancied he saw, quite a degree out oi 
the way. Now such a note as that would do more harm than 
good. It might make a foul wind of a fair one, and cause a fel- 
low to go about, or ware ship, when there was not the least oc- 
casion in the world for doing any thing of the sort.” 

“Ay, ay; this will do for nervous men, who are always think- 
ing they see danger ahead ; but it is different with islands that 
a craft has actually visited. I do not see much use. Deacon 
Pratt, in your giving yourself any further trouble. My uncle 


THE SEA LIONS. 


85 


was not a very rich man, I perceive, and I must go to work and 
make my own fortune if I wish more than I’ve got already. If 
there is any demand against the deceased, I am ready to dis- 
charge it.” 

This was coming so much to the point that the deacon hardly 
knew what to make of it. He recollected his own ten dollars, 
and the covetousness of his disposition so far got the better of 
his prudence as to induce him to mention the circumstance. 

“ Dr. Sage may have a charge — no doubt has one, that 
ought to be settled, but your uncle mainly paid his way as he 
went on. I thought the widow who took care of him was en- 
titled to something extra, and I handed her ten dollars this 
morning, which you may repay to me or not, just as you 
please.” 

Captain Daggett drew forth his wallet and discharged the 
obligation on the spot. He then replaced the charts, and, 
without opening the till of the chest, he shut down the lid, 
locked it, and put the key in his pocket, saying that he would 
cause the whole to be removed, much as if he felt anxious to 
relieve the deacon of an incumbrance. This done, he asked a 
direction to the dwelling of the Widow White, with whom he 
wished to converse, ere he left the Point. 

“ I shall have the questions of so many cousins to answer, 
when I get home,” he said, smiling, “ that it will never do for 
me to go back without taking all the talk I can get with me. 
If you will be kind enough to show me the way. Captain 
Gar’ner, I will promise to do as much for you, when you 
come to hunt up the leavings of some old relation on the Vine- 
yard.” 

Roswell Gardiner very cheerfully complied, not observing the 
look of dissatisfaction with which his owner listened to the re- 
quest. Away the two went, then, and were soon at the widow’s 
door. Here the young man left his companion, having duty to 
attend to on board the Sea Lion. The Widow White received 
her guest with lively interest, it forming one of the greatest 


86 


THE SEA LIONS. 


pleasures of her existence to be imparting and receiving intelli- 
gence. 

“ I dare say you found my uncle a companionable man,” 
observed the captain, as soon as amicable relations were estab- 
lished between the parties, by means of a few flattering re- 
marks on one side and on the other. “ The Vineyard folks are 
generally quite conversable.” 

“ That he was, Captain Daggett ; and when the deacon had 
not been over to perplex him, and wake up the worldly spirit 
in him, he was as well inclined to preparation as any sick per- 
son I ever waited on. To be sure it was different arter the 
deacon had paid him one of his visits.” 

“Was Deacon Pratt in the habit of coming to read and pray 
with the sick ?” 

“ He pray ! I don’t believe he as much as went through a 
single sentence of a prayer in all his visits. Their whull talk 
was about islands and seals, when they was by themselves.” 

“ Indeed !” exclaimed the nephew, manifesting a new interest 
in the discourse. “ And what could they find to say on such 
subjects ? Islands and seals were a strange topic for a dying 
man ?” 

“ I know it,” answered the widow, sharply. “ I know’d it at 
the time ; but what could a lone woman do to set ’em right ; 
and he a deacon of the meetin’ the whull time ? If they 
would talk of worldly things at such times, it wasn’t for one 
like me to put ’em right.” 

“ Then this discourse was held openly in your presence — 
before your face, as it might be, ma’am ?” 

“ I can’t say that it was just that ; nor was it altogether 
when my back was turned. They talked, and I overheard 
what was said, as will happen when a body is about, you 
know.” 

The stranger did not press the point, having been brought 
up in what might almost be termed a land of listeners. An 
island, that is cut off from much communication with the 


THE SEA LIONS. 


87 


rest of the earth, and from which two-thirds of the males 
must be periodically absent, would be very likely to reach 
perfection in the art of gossiping, which includes that of the 
listener. 

“ Yes,” he answered, “ one picks up a good deal, he doesn’t 
know how. So they talked of islands and seals ?” 

Thus questioned, the widow cheerfully opened her stores of 
knowledge. As she proceeded in her account of the secret 
conferences between Deacon Pratt and her late inmate, her 
zeal became quickened, and she omitted nothing that she had 
ever heard, besides including a great deal that she had not 
heard. But her companion was accustomed to such narra- 
tives, and knew reasonably well how to make allowances. He 
listened with a determination not to believe more than half 
of what she said, and by dint of long experience, he suc- 
ceeded in separating the credible portions of the woman’s 
almost breathless accounts, from those that ought to have 
been regarded as incredible, with a surprising degree of suc- 
cess. The greatest difficulty in the way of comprehending 
the Widow White’s report, arose from the fact that she had 
altogether missed the preliminary and most explicit confer- 
ence. This left so much to be understood and inferred, that, 
in her own efforts to supply the deficiencies, she made a 
great deal of confusion in the statements. Captain Daggett 
was fully assured that the deacon knew of the existence of 
the sealing-island, at least ; though he was in doubt whether 
the rumor that had been brought to him, touching the buried 
treasure, had also been imparted to this person. The pur- 
chase and equipment of the Sea Lion, taken in connection 
with the widow’s account, were enough, of themselves, to 
convince one of his experience and foresight, that an expedi- 
tion after seal was then fitting out, on the information derived 
from his deceased relative. Of this much he had no doubt ; 
but he was not able to assure himself, quite so satisfactorily, 
that the key was to be looked at by the way. 


88 


THE SEA LIONS. 


The interview between Captain Daggett and the Widow 
White lasted more than an hour. In that time the former 
had gleaned all the information the latter could give, and 
they parted on the best terms in the world. It is true that 
the captain gave the widow nothing — he had acquitted his 
conscience on this score, by repaying the deacon the money 
the last had advanced — but he listened in the most exem- 
plary manner to all she had to say ; and, with a certain class 
of vehement talkers, the most favored being in the world is 
your good listener. Interest had given the stranger an air 
of great attention, and the delighted woman had poured out 
her torrent of words in a way that gratified, in the highest 
degree, her intense desire to be imparting information. When 
they separated, it was with an understanding that letters, on 
the same interesting subject, should pass between them. 

That afternoon. Captain Daggett found means to remove the 
chest of his late kinsman, across the bays, to Sag Harbor, 
whither he proceeded himself by the same conveyance. There, 
he passed an hour or two in making inquiries touching the 
state of equipment, and the probable time of the departure of 
the Sea Lion. The fitting out of this schooner was the cause 
of a good deal of discourse in all that region, and the Martha’s 
Vineyard-man heard numberless conjectures, but very little ac- 
curate information. On the whole, however, he arrived at the 
conclusion that the Sea Lion would sail within the next ten 
days ; that her voyage was to be distant ; that her absence was 
expected to exceed a twelvemonth ; and that it was thought 
she had some other scheme in view in addition to that of 
sealing. That night, this hardy mariner — half agriculturist as 
he was — got into his whale-boat, and sailed for the Vineyard, 
all alone, taking the chest with him. This was nothing, how- 
ever; for quite often, before, had he been off at sea, in his 
boat, alone, looking out for inward-bound vessels to pilot. 


THE SEA LIONS. 


89 


' CHAPTER VI. 

“ Launch thy bark, mariner ! 

Christian, God speed thee 1 
Let loose the rudder-bands. 

Good angels lead thee I 
Set thy sails warily. 

Tempests will come ; 

Steer thy course steadily, 

Christian, steer home I” 

Mrs. Southey. 

The visit of Captain Daggett, taken in connection with all 
that he had said and done, while on Oyster Pond, and at Sag 
Harbor, had the effect greatly to hasten the equipments of the 
Sea Lion. Deacon Pratt knew the characters of the seamen 
of the island too well, to trifle in a matter of so much moment. 
How much the Vineyard folk had been told, in reference to his 
great secrets, he did not know ; but he felt assured that they 
knew enough, and had learned enough in this visit to quicken 
all their desires for riches, and to set them in motion towards 
the antarctic circle. With such a people, distance and difficul- 
ties are of no account ; a man who has been cradling oats to- 
day, in his own retired fields, where one would think ambition 
and the love of change could never penetrate, being ready to 
quit home at twenty-four hours’ notice, assuming the marling- 
spike as he lays aside the fork, and setting forth for the utter- 
most confines of the earth, with as little hesitation as another 
might quit his home for an ordinary journey of a week. Such, 
did the deacon well know, was the character of those with 
whom he had now to deal, and he foresaw the necessity of the 
utmost caution, perseverance, diligence, and activity. 

Philip Hazard, the mate mentioned by Roswell Gardiner, was 
enjoined to lose no time ; and the men engaged for the voyage 


90 


THE SEA LIONS. 


soon began to cross the Sound, and to make their appearance 
on board the schooner. As for the craft herself, she had all 
that was necessary for her wants below hatches ; and the dea- 
con began to manifest some impatience for the appearance of 
two or three men of particular excellence, of whom Phil Haz- 
ard was in quest, and whom Captain Gardiner had made it a 
point should be obtained. Little did the worthy owner suspect 
that the Vineyard people were tampering with these very 
hands, and keeping them from coming to terms, in order that 
they might fit out a second Sea Lion, which they had now 
been preparing for near a month; having purchased her at 
New Bedford, with a view to profit by the imperfect informa- 
tion that had reached them, through the masters of the brig 
and sloop. The identity in the name was accidental, or, it 
might be better to say, had been naturally enough suggested 
by the common nature of the enterprise ; but, once existing, it 
had been the means of suggesting to the Vineyard company a 
scheme of confounding the vessels, out of which they hoped to 
reap some benefit, but which it would be premature now fully 
to state. 

After a delay of several days. Hazard sent across from Sto- 
nington a man by the name of Watson, who had the reputa- 
tion of being a first-class sealer. This accession was highly 
prized ; and, in the absence of his mates, both of whom were 
out looking for hands, Roswell Gardiner, to whom command 
was still novel, consulted freely with this experienced and skil- 
ful mariner. It was fortunate for the schemes of the deacon 
that he had left his young master still in the dark, as respected 
his two great secrets. Gardiner understood that the schooner 
was to go after seals, sea-lions, sea-elephants, and all animals of 
the genus phocd y but he had been told nothing concerning the 
revelations of Daggett, or of the real motives that had induced 
him to go so far out of his usual course, in the pursuit of gain. 
W^e say it was fortunate that the deacon had been so wary ; for 
Watson had no intention whatever to sail out of Oyster Pond, 


THE SEA LIONS. 


91 


having been actually engaged as the second officer of the rival 
Sea Lion, which had been purchased at New Bedford, and was 
then in active state of forwardness in its equipments, with a 
view to compete with the craft that was still lying so quietly 
and unconsciously alongside of Deacon Pratt’s wharf. In a 
word, Watson was a spy, sent across by the Vineyard-men, to 
ascertain all he could of the intentions of the schooner’s owner, 
to worm himself into Gardiner’s confidence, and to report, from 
time to time, the state of things generally, in order that the 
East-enders might not get the start of his real employers. It 
is a common boast of Americans that there are no spies in their 
country. This may be true in the every-day signification of 
the term, though it is very untrue in all others. This is proba- 
bly the most spying country in Christendom, if the looking into 
other people’s concerns be meant. Extensive and recognized 
systems of espionage exist among merchants ; and nearly every 
man connected with the press has enlisted himself as a sort of 
spy in the interests of politics — many, in those of other con- 
cerns, also. The reader, therefore, is not to run away with im- 
pressions formed under general assertions that will scarce bear 
investigation, and deny the truth of pictures that are drawn 
with daguerreotype fidelity, because they do not happen to re- 
flect the cant of the day. The man Watson, who had partially 
engaged to go out in the Sea Lion, Captain Roswell Gardiner, 
was not only a spy, but a spy sent covertly into an enemy’s 
camp, with the meanest motives, and with intentions as hostile 
as the nature of the circumstances would permit. 

Such was the state of things on Oyster Pond for quite a week 
after the nephew had been to look after the effects of the de- 
ceased uncle. The schooner was now quite ready for sea, and 
her master began to talk of hauling off from the wharf. It is 
true, there was no very apparent reason why this step, prelim- 
inary to sailing, should be taken in that port, where there were 
so few opportunities for her people to run into excesses ; but 
it sounded ship-shape, and Captain Gardiner had been heard to 


92 


THE SEA LIONS. 


express an intention to that effect. The men arrived but slowly 
from the main, and something like impatience was manifested 
by the young commander, who had long before got all his green 
hands, or youths from the neighborhood, on board, and was 
gradually breaking them into the ways of a vessel. Indeed, 
the best reason he could give to himself for “ hauling off,” was 
the practice it might give to these lads with the oars. 

“ I don’t know what Hazard and Green are about,” called 
out Roswell Gardiner to his owner, the first being on the quar- 
ter-deck of the Sea Lion, and the last on the wharf, while Wat- 
son was busy in the main-rigging ; “ they’ve been long enough 
on the main to ship a dozen crews for a craft of this size, and 
we are still short two hands, even if this man sign the papers, 
which he has not yet done. By the way, Watson, it’s time we 
saw your handwriting.” 

“ I’m a poor scholar. Captain Gar’ner,” returned the cunning 
mariner, “ and it takes time for me to make out even so small 
a matter as my name.” 

“ Ay, ay ; you are a prudent fellow, and I like you all the 
better for it. But you have had leisure, and a plenty of it too, 
to make up your mind. You must know the schooner from 
her keel up by this time, and ought to be able to say now that 
you are willing to take luck’s chances in her.” 

“ Ay, ay, sir ; that’s all true enough, so far as the craft is 
concerned. If this was a West India v’y’ge, I wouldn’t stand 
a minute about signing the articles ; nor should I make much 
question if the craft was large enough for a common whalin’ 
v’y’ge ; but, sealin’ is a different business, and one onprofitable 
hand may make many an onprofitable lay.” 

“ All this is true enough ; but we do not intend to take any 
unprofitable hands, or to have any unprofitable lays. You 
know me — ” 

“ Oh ! if all was like yow. Captain Gar’ner, I wouldn’t stand 
even to wipe the pen. Your repitation was made in the south- 
ward, and no man can dispute your skill.” 


THE SEA LIONS. 


98 


“Well, both mates are old hands at the business, and we in- 
tend that all the ‘ ables’ shall be as good men as you are your- 
self.” 

“ It needs good men, sir, to be operatin’ among some of them 
sea-elephants ! Sea-dogs ; for sea-dogs is my sayin’. They tell 
of seals getting source ; but I say, it’s all in knowin’ the busi- 
ness. — ‘ There’s young Captain Gar’ner,’ says I, ‘ that’s fittin’ out 
a schooner for some onknown part of the world,’ says I, ‘ maybe 
for the South Pole, for-ti-know, or for some sich out-of-the-way 
hole ; now he’ll come back full^ or I’m no judge o’ the busi- 
ness,’ says I.” 

“ Well, if this is your way of thinking, you have only to clap 
your name to the articles, and take your lay.” 

“ Ay, ay, sir ; when I’ve seed my shipmates. There isn’t the 
business under the sun that so much needs that every man 
should be true, as the sea-elephant trade. Smaller animals may 
be got along with, with a narvous crew, perhaps ; but when it 
comes to the raal old bulls, or bull-dogs, as a body might better 
call ’em, give me stout hearts, as well as stout hands.” 

“Well, now, to my notion, Watson, it is less dangerous to 
take a sea-elephant than to fasten to a regular old bull-whale, 
that maybe has had half a dozen irons in him already.” 

“ Yes, sir, thaHs sometimes skeary work, too ; though I don’t 
think so much of a whale as I do of a sea-elephant, or of a sea- 
lion. ‘ Let me know my shipmates,’ say I, ‘ on a sealin’ expe- 
dition.’ ” 

“ Captain Gar’ner,” said the deacon, who necessarily over- 
heard this discourse, “ you ought to know at once whether this 
man is to go in the schooner or not. The mates believe he is, 
and may come across from the main without a hand to take 
his place, should he leave us. The thing should be settled at 
once. 

“I’m willing to come to tarms this minute,” returned Wat- 
son, as boldly as if he were perfectly sincere ; “ only let me un- 
derstand what I undertake. If I know’d to what islands the 


94 


THE SEA LIONS. 


schooner was bound, it might make a difference in my judg- 
ment.” 

This was a well-devised question of the spy’s, though it failed 
of its effect, in consequence of the deacon’s great caution in not 
having yet told his secret, even to the master of his craft. 
Had Gardiner known exactly where he was about to go, the 
desire to secure a hand as valuable as Watson might have 
drawn from him some imprudent revelation ; but knowing 
nothing himself, he was obliged to make the best answer he 
could. 

“ Going,” he said ; “ why, we are going after seals, to be 
sure ; and shall look for them where they are most to be 
found. As experienced a hand as yourself ought to know 
where that is.” 

“Ay, ay, sir,” answered the fellow, laughing — “it’s just 
neither here nor there — that’s all.” 

“ Captain Gar’ner,” interrupted the deacon, solemnly, “ this 
is trifling, and we must come to terms with this man, or write 
to Mr. Hazard to engage another in his place. Come ashore, 
sir ; I have business with you up at the house.” 

The serious manner in which this was uttered took both the 
captain and the man a little by surprise. As for the first, he 
went below to conceal his good-looking throat beneath a black 
handkerchief, before he followed the deacon where it was most 
probable he should meet with Mary. While he was thus occu- 
pied, Watson came down out of the main-rigging and de- 
scended into the forecastle. As the young captain was walking 
fast towards the dwelling of Deacon Pratt, Watson came on 
deck again, and hailed Baiting Joe, who was fishing at no great 
distance from the wharf. In a few minutes Watson was in 
Joe’s boat, bag and all — he had not brought a chest on board 
— and was under way for the Harbor. From the Harbor he 
sailed the same evening, in a whale-boat that was kept in 
readiness for him, carrying the news over to Holmes’s Hole that 
the Sea Lion, of Oyster Pond, would certainly be ready to go 


THE SEA LIONS. 


95 


out as early as the succeeding week. Although Watson thus 
seemingly deserted his post, it was with a perfect understanding 
with his real employers. He had need of a few days to make 
his own preparations before he left the 41st degree of north 
latitude to go as far south as a vessel could proceed. He did 
not, however, leave his post entirely vacant. One of Deacon 
Pratt’s neighbors had undertaken, for a consideration, to let the 
progress of events be known, and tidings were sent by every 
opportunity, ‘reporting the movements of the schooner, and the 
prospects of her getting to sea. These last were not quite as 
flattering as Roswell Gardiner had hoped and believed, the 
agents of the Vineyard company having succeeded in getting 
away two of Hazard’s best men ; and as reliable sealers were 
not to be picked up as easily as pebbles on a beach, the delay 
caused by this new stroke of management might even be 
serious. All this time the Sea Lion, of Holmes’ Hole, was get- 
ting ahead with untiring industry, and there was every prospect 
of her being ready to go out as soon as her competitor. But 
to return to Oyster Pond. 

Deacon Pratt was in his porch ere Roswell Gardiner over- 
took him. There the deacon gave his young friend to under- 
stand he had private business of moment, and led the way at 
once into his own apartment, which served the purposes of 
office, bedroom, and closet ; the good man being accustomed to 
put up his petition to the throne of Mercy there, as well as 
transact all his temporal affairs. Shutting the door, and turn- 
ing the key, not a little to Roswell’s surprise, the old man faced 
his companion with a most earnest and solemn look, telling him 
at once that he was now about to open his mind to him in a 
matter of the last concern. The young sailor scarce knew 
what to think of it all ; but he hoped that Mary was, in some 
way, connected with the result. 

“ In the first place, Captain Gar’ner,” continued the deacon, 
“ I must ask you to take an oath.” 


96 


THE SEA LIONS. 


“ An oath, deacon ! This is quite new for the sealing busi- 
ness — as ceremonious as Uncle Sam’s people.” 

“Yes, sir, an oath ; and an oath that must be most religiously 
kept, and on this Bible. Without the oath, our whole connec- 
tion must fall through. Captain Gar’ner.” 

“ Rather than that should happen, deacon, I will cheerfully 
take two oaths ; one to clench the other.” 

“ It is well. I ask you, Roswell Gar’ner, to swear on this 
Holy Book that the secrets I shall now reveal to you shall not 
be told to any other, except in a manner prescribed by myself ; 
that in no other man’s employment will you profit by them ; 
and that you will in all things connected with them be true 
and faithful to your engagements to me and to my interests — 
so help you God !” 

Roswell Gardiner kissed the book, while he wondered 
much, and was dying with curiosity to know what was to 
follow. This great point secured, the deacon laid aside the 
sacred volume, opened a drawer, and produced the two all- 
important charts, to which he had transferred the notes of 
Daggett. 

“ Captain Gar’ner,” resumed the deacon, spreading the chart 
of the antartic sea on the bed, “ you must have known me and 
my ways long enough to feel some surprise at finding me, at 
my time of life, first entering into the shipping concern.” 

“ If I’ve felt any surprise, deacon, it is that a man of your 
taste and judgment should have held aloof so long from the 
only employment that I think fit for a man of real energy and 
character.” 

“ Ay, this is well enough for you to say, as a seaman your- 
self ; though you will find it hard to persuade most of those 
who live on shore into your own ways of thinking.” 

“ That is because people ashore think and act as they have 
been brought up to do. Now, just look at that chart, deacon ; 
see how much of it is water, and how little of it is land. Min- 
ister Whittle told us only the last Sabbath, that nothing was 


THE SEA LIONS. 


97 


created without a design, and that a wise dispensation of Divine 
Providence was to be seen in all the works of nature. Now, if 
the land was intended to take the lead of the w^ater, would 
there have been so much more of the last than of the first, 
deacon ? That was the idea that came into my mind when I 
heard the minister’s words ; and had not Mary — ” 

“ What of Mary ?” demanded the deacon, perceiving that the 
young man paused. 

“ Only I was in hopes that what you had to say, deacon, 
might have some connection with Tier.” 

“ What I have to say is better worth hearing than fifty 
Marys. As to my niece, Gar’ner, you are welcome to her, if 
she will have you ; and why she does not is to me unaccounta- 
ble. But, you see that chart — look at it well, and tell me if 
you find any thing new or remarkable about it.” 

“ It looks like old times, deacon, and here are many places 
that I have visited and know. What have we here ? Islands 
laid down in pencil, with the latitude and longitude in figures ! 
Who says there is land, thereaway. Deacon Pratt, if I may be 
so free as to ask the question ?” 

“ I do — and capital good land it is, for a sealing craft to get 
alongside of. Them islands, Gar’ner, may make your fortune, 
as well as mine. ' No matter how I know they are there — it is 
enough that I do know it, and that I wish you to carry the 
Sea Lion to that very spot, as straight as you can go ; fill her 
up with elephant’s oil, ivory, and skins, and bring her back 
aarain as fast as she can travel.” 

o 

“ Islands in that latitude and longitude !” said Roswell Gar- 
diner, examining the chart as closely as if it were of very fine 
print indeed — “ I never heard of any such land before !” 

“ ’Tis there, notwithstanding ; and like all land in distant 
seas that men have not often troubled, plentifully garnished 
with what will pay the mariner well for his visit.” , 

“ Of that I have little doubt, should there be actually 
any land there. It may be a Cape Fly Away, that some 

.5 


98 


THE SEA LIONS. 


fellow has seen in thick weather. The ocean is full of such 
islands !” 

“This is none of them. It is bony fidy ’arth, as I know 
from the man who trod it. You must take good care, 
Gar’ner, and not run the schooner on it,” — with a small 
chuckling laugh, such as a man little accustomed to this 
species of indulgence uses, when in high good-humor. “I 
am not rich enough to buy and fit out Sea Lions for you to 
cast ’em away.” 

“ That’s high latitude, deacon, to carry a craft into. Cook 
himself fell short of that^ somewhat !” 

“ Never mind Cook — he was a king’s navigator — my man 
was an American sealer ; and what he has once seen he knows 
where to find again. There are the islands — three in number ; 
and there you will find ’em, with animals on their shores as 
plenty as clam-shells on the south beach.” 

“I hope it may be so. If land is there, and you’ll risk 
the schooner. I’ll try to get a look at it. I shall want you to 
put it down in black and white, however, that I’m to go as 
high as this.” 

“ You shall have any authority a man may ask. On that 
point there can be no difficulty between me and you. The 
risk of the schooner must be mine of course ; but I rely on you 
to take as good care of her as a man can. Go then, direct, to 
that point, and fill up the schooner. But, Gar’ner, my business 
doesn’t end with this ! As soon as the schooner is full, you 
will come to the southward, and get her clear of every thing 
like ice as fast as possible.” 

“ That I should be very likely to do, deacon, though you had 
said nothing on the subject.” 

“ Yes, by all accounts, them are stormy seas, and the 
sooner a body is shut of them the better. And now, Gar’ner, 
I must swear you again. I have another secret to tell you, 
and an oath must gi with each. Kiss this sacred volume 
once more, and swear to me never to reveal to another 


THE SEA LIONS. 


99 


that which I am about to reveal to you, unless it may be 
in a court of law, and at the command of justice, so help 
you God.” 

“ What, a second oath, deacon ! — You are as bad as the cus- 
tom-houses, which take you on all tacks, and don’t believe you 
when you’ve done. Surely, I’m sworn in already.” 

“Kiss the book, and swear to what I have put to you,” 
said the deacon, sternly, “ or never go to sea in a craft of mine. 
Never to reveal what I shall now tell you, unless compelled by 
justice, so help you God !” 

Thus cornered, Roswell Gardiner hesitated no longer, but 
swore as required, kissing the book gravely and reverently. 
This was the young man’s first command, and he w^as not going 
to lose it on account of so small a matter as swearing to keep 
his owner’s secrets. Having obtained the pledge, the deacon 
now produced the second chart, which was made to take the 
place of the other on the bed. 

“ There !” he exclaimed, in a sort of triumph — “ that is the 
real object of your voyage !” 

“ That key ! Why, deacon, that is in north latitude — ° 
— ", and you make a crooked road of it, truly, when you tell 
me to go as far south as — ° — ", in order to reach it.” 

“ It is well to have two strings to a body’s bow. When you 
hear what you are to bring from that key, you will understand 
why I send you south, before you are to come here to top off 
your cargo.” 

“ It must be with turtle, then,” said Roswell Gardiner, laugh- 
ing. “ Nothing grows on these keys but a few stunted shrubs, 
and nothing is ever to be found on them but turtle. Once in 
a while a fellow' may pick up a few turtle, if he happen to hit 
the right key.” 

“ Gar’ner,” rejoined the deacon, still more solemnly — “ that 
island, low and insignificant as it is, contains treasure. Pirates 
made their deposits here a long time ago, and the knowledge 
of that fact is now confined to myself.” 


100 


THE SEA LIONS. 


The young man stared at the deacon as if he had some 
doubts whether the old man were in his right mind. He knew 
the besetting weakness of his character well, and had no diffi- 
culty in appreciating the influence of such a belief as that he 
had just expressed, on his feelings ; but it seemed so utterly 
improbable that he, living on Oyster Pond, should learn a fact 
of this nature, which was concealed from others, that, at first, 
he fancied his owner had been dreaming of money until its 
images had made him mad. Then he recollected the deceased 
mariner, the deacon’s many conferences with him, the interest 
he had always appeared to take in the man, and the suddenness, 
as well as the time, of the purchase of the schooner ; and he at 
once obtained a clew to the whole affair. 

“ Daggett has told you this. Deacon Pratt,” said Gardiner, 
in his off-hand way. “ And he is the man who has told you 
of those sealing-islands, too !” 

“ Admitting it to be so, why not Daggett as well as any 
other man ?” 

“ Certainly, if he knew what he was saying to be true — but 
the yarn of a sailor is not often to be taken for gospel.” 

“ Daggett was near his end, and cannot be classed with those 
who talk idly in the pride of their health and strength — men < 
who are ever ready to say, ‘ Tush, God has forgotten.’ ” 

“ Why was this told to you, when the man had natural 
friends and relatives by the dozen over on the Vineyard ?” 

“He had been away from the Vineyard and them relatives 
fifty years; a length of time that weakens a body’s feelings 
considerably. Take you away from Mary only a fourth part of 
that time, and you would forget whether her eyes are blue or 
black, and altogether how she looks.” 

“ If I should, a most miserable and contemptible dog should 
I account myself! No, deacon, twice fifty years would not 
make me forget the eyes or the looks of Mary 1” 

“ Ay, so all youngsters think, and feel, and talk. But let 
’em try the world, and they’ll soon find out their own foolish- 


THE SEA LIONS. 


101 


ness. But Daggett made me his confidant because Providence 
put me in his way, and because he trusted to be well enough 
to go in the schooner, and to turn the expedition to some ac- 
count in his own behalf.” 

“ Had the man the impudence to confess that he had been a 
pirate, and helped to bury treasure on this key ?” 

“ That is not, by any means, his history. Daggett was never 
a pirate himself, but accident placed him in the same prison 
and same room as that in which a real pirate was confined. 
There the men became friends, and the condemned prisoner, 
for such he was in the end, gave this secret to Daggett as the 
last service he could do him.” 

“ I hope, deacon, you do not expect much in the way of 
profit from this part of the voyage ?” 

“ I expect the most from it, Gar’ner, as you will too, when 
you come to hear the whole story.” 

The deacon then went into all the particulars of the revela- 
tions made by the pirate to his fellow-prisoner, much as they 
had been given by Daggett to himself. The young man listened 
to this account at first with incredulity, then with interest ; and 
finally with a feeling that induced him to believe that there 
might be more truth in the narrative than he had originally 
supposed possible. This change was produced by the earnest 
manner of the deacon as much as by the narrative itself ; for he 
had become graphic under the strong impulses of that which, 
with him, was a master passion. So deep had been the im- 
pression made on the mind of the old man by Daggett’s ac- 
count, and so intense the expectations thereby awakened, that 
he omitted nothing, observed the most minute accuracy in all 
his details, and conveyed just as distinct impressions to his 
listener, as had been conveyed to himself, when the story was 
first told to him. 

“ This is a most extr’or’nary account, take it on whatever 
tack you will !” exclaimed Roswell Gardiner, as soon as a 
pause in the deacon’s story enabled him to put in another 




102 


THE SEA LIONS. 


word. “ The most extr’or’nary tale I ever listened to ! How 
came so much gold and silver to be abandoned for so long 
a time ?” 

“ Them three oflScers hid it there, fearing to trust their own 
crew with it in their vessel. Their pretence was to stop for 
turtle, just as you must do ; whilst the hands were turtling, the 
captain and his mates walked about the key, and took occa- 
sion to make their deposits in that hole on the coral rock, 
as you have heard me say. Oh ! it’s all too natural not to 
be true !” 

Roswell Gardiner saw that the old man’s hopes were too 
keenly excited to be easily cooled, and that his latent covetous- 
ness was thoroughly awakened. Of all the passions to which 
poor human nature is the slave, the love of gold is that which 
endures the longest, and is often literally carried with us to the 
verge of the grave. Indeed, in minds so constituted originally 
as to submit to an undue love of money, the passion appears to 
incease, as others more dependent on youth, and strength, and 
enterprise, and ambition, gradually become of diminished force, 
slowly but surely usurping the entire sway over a being that 
was once subject to many masters. Thus had it been with the 
deacon. Nearly all his passions now centred in this one. He 
no longer cared for preferment in politics, though once it had 
been the source of a strong desire to represent Suffolk at Al- 
bany; even the meeting, and its honors, were loosening its 
hold on his mind ; while his fellow-men, his kindred included, 
were regarded by him as little more than so many competitors, 
or tools. 

“ A lie may be made to seem very natural,” answered Ros- 
well Gardiner, “ if it has been put together by one who under- 
stands knotting and splicing in such matters. Did this Daggett 
name the amount of the sum that he supposed the pirates may 
have left on that key ?” 

“ He did,” returned the deacon, the whole of his narrow and 
craving soul seeming to gleam in his two sunken eyes as he 


THE SEA LIONS. 


103 


answered. “ According to the account of the pirate, there 
could not have been much less than thirty thousand dollars, 
and nearly all of it in good doubloons of the coin of the kings 
— doubloons that will weigh their full sixteens to the pound — 
ay, and to spare !” 

“ The Sea Lion’s cargo, well chosen and well stowed, would 
double that, deacon, if the right animals can only be found.” 

“ Maybe so — but just think, Gar’ner — this will be in good 
bright coined gold !” 

“ But what right can we have to that gold, even admitting 
that it is there, and can be found ?” 

“ Right !” exclaimed the deacon, staring. “ Does not that 
which Divine Providence gives man become his own ?” 

“ By the same rule it might be said Divine Providence gave 
it to the pirates. There must be lawful owners to all this 
money, if one could only find them.” 

“ Ay, if one could only find them. Harkee, Gar’ner ; have 
you spent a shilling or a quarter lately ?” 

“ A good many of both, deacon,” answered the young man, 
again betraying the lightness of his heart with a laugh. “ I 
wish I had more of your saving temper, and I might get rich. 
Yes, I spent a quarter only two hours since, in buying fish for 
the cabin, of old Baiting Joe.” 

“Well, tell me the impression of that quarter. Had it a 
head, or only pillars ? What was its date, and in whose reign 
was it struck ? Maybe it was from the mint at Philadelphia — 
if so, had it the old eagle or the new ? In a word, could you 
swear to that quarter, Gar’ner, or to any quarter you ever spent 
in your life ?” 

“ Perhaps not, deacon. •A fellow doesn’t sit down to take 
likenesses, when he gets a little silver or gold.” 

“Nor is it very probable that any one could say — ‘that is 
my doubloon.’ ” 

“ Still there must be a lawful owner to each piece of that 
money, if any such money be there,” returned Roswell Gardi- 


104 


THE SEA LIONS. 


ner, a little positively. “ Have you ever talked with Mary, 
deacon, on this subject ?” 

“ I talk of such a matter with a woman ! Do you think I’m 
mad, Gar’ner? If I wanted to have the secret run through 
old Suffolk, as fire runs over the salt meadows in the spring, 
I might think of such a thing ; but not without. I have 
talked with no one but the master of the craft that I am 
about to send out in search of this gold, as well as in search of 
the sealing-islands, I have shown you. Had there been but 
one object in view, I might not have ventured so much ; but 
with iwo before my eyes, it would seem like flying in the face 
of Divine Providence to neglect so great an opportunity !” 

Roswell Gardiner saw that arguments would avail nothing 
against a cupidity so keenly aroused. He abstained, therefore, 
from urging any more of the objections that suggested them- 
selves to his mind, but heard all that the deacon had to 
tell him, taking full notes of what he heard. It would seem 
that Daggett had been sufiiciently clear in his directions for 
finding the hidden treasure, provided always that his confi- 
dant the pirate had been as clear with him, and had not 

been indulging in a mystification. The probability of the 

last had early suggested itself to one of Deacon Pratt’s cau- 
tious temperament ; but Daggett had succeeded in removing 
the impression by his forcible statements of his friend’s sin- 
cerity. There was as little doubt of the sincerity of the belief 
of the Martha’s Vineyard mariner, as there was of that of the 
deacon himself. 

The day that succeeded this conference, the Sea Lion hauled 
off from the wharf, and all communications with her were 
now made only by means of boats. The sudden disappear- 
ance of Watson may have contributed to this change — men 

being more under control with a craft at her moorings than 
when fast to a wharf. Three days later the schooner lifted 
her anchor, and with a light air made sail. She passed 
through the narrow but deep channel which separates Shel- 


THE SEA LIONS. 


105 


ter Island from Oyster Pond, quitting the waters of Peconic 
altogether. There was not an air of departure about her, 
notwithstanding. The deacon was not much concerned ; and 
some of Koswell Gardiner’s clothes were still at his washer- 
woman’s, circumstances that were fully explained, when the 
schooner was seen to anchor in Gardiner’s Bay, which is an 
outer roadstead to all the ports and havens of that region. 


i 






106 


THE SEA LIONS. 


CHAPTER VII. 

“ Walk in the light I so shalt thou know 
That fellowship of love, 

His spirit only can bestow 
Who reigns in light above. 

Walk in the light 1 and sin, abhorr’d. 

Shall ne’er defile again ; 

The blood of Jesus Christ, the Lord, 

Shall cleanse from every stain.” 

Beenaed Baeton. 

About an hour after the Sea Lion, of Oyster Pond, had let 
go her anchor in Gardiner’s Bay, a coasting sloop approached 
her, coming from the westward. There are two passages by 
which vessels enter or quit Long Island Sound, at its eastern , 
termination. The main channel is between Plum and Fisher’s 
Islands, and from the rapidity of its currents, is known by the 
name of the Race. The other passage is much less frequented, 
being out of the direct line for sailing for craft that keep mid- 
sound. It lies to the southward of the Race, between Plum 
Island and Oyster Pond Point, and is called by the Anglo- 
Saxon appellation of Plum Gut. The coaster just mentioned i 
had come through this latter passage; and it was the im- ' 
pression of those who saw her from the schooner, that she 
was bound up into Peconic, or the waters of Sag Harbor. 
Instead of luffing up into either of the channels that would j 
have carried her into these places, however, she kept off, cross- \ 
ing Gardiner’s Bay, until she got within hail of the schooner. ' 
The wind being quite light, there was time for the following ! 
short dialogue to take place between the skipper of this coaster \ 
and Roswell Gardiner, before the sloop had passed beyond the \ 
reach of the voice. 5 


THE SEA LIONS. 


107 


“ Is that the Sea Lion, of Oyster Pond ?” demanded the skip- 
per, boldly. 

“ Ay, ay,” answered Roswell Gardiner, in the sententious 
manner of a seaman. , 

“ Is there one Watson, of Martha’s Vineyard, shipped in 
that craft ?” 

“ He was aboard here for a week, but left us suddenly. As 
he did not sign articles, I cannot say that he run.” 

“ He changed his mind, then,” returned the other, as one 
expresses a slight degree of surprise at hearing that which was 
new to him. “Watson is apt to whiffle about, though a 
prime fellow, if you can once fasten to him, and get him into 
blue water. Does your schooner go out to-morrow. Captain 
Gar’ner ?” 

“ Not till next day, I think,” said Roswell Gardiner, with 
the frankness of his nature, utterly free from the slightest sus- 
picion that he was communicating with one in the interests of 
rivals. “ My mates have not yet joined me, and I am short of 
my complement by two good hands. Had that fellow Watson 
stuck by me, I would have given him a look at water that no 
lead ever sounded.” 

“ Ay, ay ; he’s a whiffler, but a good man on a sea-elephant. 
Then you think you’ll sail day a’ter to-morrow ?” 

“ If my mates come over from the main. They wrote me 
yesterday that they had got the hands, and were then on the 
look-out for something to get across in. I’ve come out here to 
be ready for them, and to pick ’em up, that they needn’t go all 
the way up to the Harbor.” 

“ That’s a good traverse, and will save a long pull. Perhaps 
they are in that boat.” 

At this allusion to a boat, Roswell Gardiner sprang into his 
main rigging, and saw, sure enough, that a boat was pulling 
directly towards the schooner, coming from the main, and dis- 
tant only a short half mile. A glass was handed to him, and 
he was soon heard announcing cheerfully to his men, that 


108 


THE SEA LIONS. 


“ Mr. Hazard and the second officer were in the boat, with two 
seamen,” and that he supposed they should now have their 
complement. All this was overheard by the skipper of the 
sloop, who caught each syllable with the most eager attention. 

“ You’ll soon be travelling south. I’m thinking. Captain 
Gar’ner ?” called out this worthy, again, in a sort of felicitating 
way. “ Them’s your chaps, and they’ll set you up.” 

“ I hope so, with all my heart, for there is nothing more 
tiresome than waiting when one is all ready to trip. My 
owner is getting to be impatient too, and wants to see some 
skins in return for his dollars.” 

“ Ay, ay, them’s your chaps, and you’ll be off the day a’ter 
to-morrow, at the latest. Well, a good time to you. Captain 
Gar’ner, and a plenty of skinning. It’s a long road to travel, 
especially when a craft has to go as far south as yours is 
bound !” 

“ How do you know, friend, whither I am bound ? You 
have not asked me for my sealing-ground, nor is it usual, in our 
business, to be hawking it up and down the country.” 

“ All that is true enough, but I’ve a notion, notwithstanding. 
Now^ as you’ll be off so soon, and as I shall not see you again, 
for some time at least, I will give you a piece of advice. If 
you fall in with a consort, don’t fall out wdth her, and make a 
distant v’y’ge a cruise for an enemy, but come to tarms, and 
work in company ; lay for lay ; and make fair weather of what 
can’t be helped.” 

The men on board the sloop laughed at this speech, while 
those on board the schooner wondered. To Roswell Gardiner 
and his people the allusions w^ere an enigma, and the former 
muttered something about the stranger’s being a dunce, as he 
descended from the rigging, and gave some orders to prepare to 
receive the boat. 

“ The chap belongs to the Hole,” rejoined the master of the 
schooner; “and all them Vineyard fellows fancy themselves 
better blue-jackets than the rest of mankind * I suppose it 


THE SEA LIONS. 


109 


must be because their island lies further out to sea than any 
thing we have here inside of Montauk.” 

Thus ended the communications with the stranger. The 
sloop glided away before a light south wind, and, favored by 
an ebb-tide, soon rounded the spit of sand that shelters the 
anchorage ; and, hauling up to the eastward, she went on her 
way towards Holmes’ Hole. The skipper was a relative of half 
ot those who were interested in fitting out the rival Sea Lion, 
and had volunteered to obtain the very information he took 
with him, knowing how acceptable it would be to those at 
home. Sooth to say, a deep but wary excitement prevailed on 
the Vineyard, touching not only the sealing-islands, but also in 
respect to the buried treasure. The information actually pos- 
sessed by the relations of the deceased mariner was neither 
very full nor very clear. It consisted principally of sayings of 
Daggett, uttered during his homeward-bound passage, and 
transmitted by the master of the brig to him of the sloop in 
the course of conferences that wore away a long summer’s 
afternoon, as the two vessels lay becalmed within a hundred 
fathoms of each other. These sayings, however, had been fre- 
quent and intelligible. All men like to deal in that which 
makes them of importance ; and the possession of his secrets 
had just the efiect on Daggett’s mind that was necessary to 
render him boastful. Under such impulses his tongue had not 
been very guarded ; and facts leaked out which, when trans- 
mitted to his native island, through the medium of half-a-dozen 
tongues and as many fancies, amounted to statements sufficient 
to fire the imaginations of a people much duller than those of 
Martha’s Vineyard. Accustomed to converse and think of such 
expeditions, it is not surprising that a few of the most enter- 
prising of those who first heard the reports should unite and 
plan the adventure they now actually had in hand. When the 
intelligence of what was going on on Oyster Pond reached 
them, every thing like hesitation or doubt disappeared ; and 
from the moment of the nephew’s return in quest of his uncle’s 


110 


THE SEA LIONS. 


assets, the equipment of the “ Humses’ Hull” craft had been 
pressed in a way that would have done credit to that of a 
government cruiser. Even Henry Eckford, so well kuown for 
having undertaken to cut the trees and put upon the waters of 
Ontario two double-bank frigates, if frigates they could be 
termed, each of which was to mount its hundred guns, in the 
short space of sixty days, scarce manifested greater energy in 
carrying out his contract, than did these rustic islanders in 
preparing their craft to compete with that which they were 
now certain was about to sail from the place where their kins- 
man had breathed his last. 

These keen and spirited islanders, however, did not work 
quite as much in the dark as our accounts, unexplained, might 
give the reader reason to suppose. It will be remembered 
that there was a till to the chest which had not been examined 
by the deacon. This till contained an old mutilated journal, 
not of the last, but of one or two of the earlier voyages of the 
deceased ; though it had detached entries that evidently re- 
ferred to different and distant periods of time. By dint of 
study, and by putting together sundry entries that at first sight 
might not be supposed to have any connection with each other, 
the present possessor of that chest had obtained what he 
deemed to be very sufiicient clews to his uncle’s two great 
secrets. There were also in the chest several loose pieces of 
paper, on which there were rude attempts to make charts of all 
the islands and keys in question, giving their relative positions 
as it respected their immediate neighbors, but in no instance 
giving the latitudes and longitudes. In addition to these sig- 
nificant proofs that the reports brought through the two mas- 
ters were not without a foundation, there was an unfinished 
letter, written by the deceased, and addressed as a sort of lega- 
cy, “ to any, or all of Martha’s Vineyard, of the name of Bag- 
gett.” This address was sufficiently wide, including, probably, 
some hundreds of persons; a clan, in fact; but it was also suf- 
ficiently significant. The individual into whose hands it first 


THE SEA LIONS. 


Ill 


fell, being of the name, read it first, as a matter of course, 
when he carefully folded it up, and placed it in a pocket-book 
which he was much in the habit of carrying in his own pocket. 
On what principle this letter, unfinished and without a signa- 
ture, with nothing indeed but its general and comprehensive 
address to point out its origin as well as its destination, was 
thus appropriated to the purposes of a single individual, we 
shall not stop to inquire. Such was the fact, how^ever, and 
none connected with the equipment of the Sea Lion, of Holmes’ 
Hole, knew any thing of the existence of that document, its 
present possessor excepted. He looked it over occasionally, 
and deemed the information it conveyed of no trifling import, 
under all the circumstances of the case. 

Both the enterprises of which we have given an opening 
account were perfectly characteristic of the state of society in 
which they were brought into existence. Deacon Pratt, if 
he had any regular calling, was properly a husbandman, though 
the love of money had induced him to invest his cash in nearly 
every conc^n around him, which promised remunerating re- 
turns. The principal owners of the Sea Lion, of Holmes’ 
Hole, w^ere husbandmen also ; folk who literally tilled the 
earth, cradled their own oats and rye, and mowed their own 
meadows. Notwithstanding, neither of these men, those of the 
Vineyard any more than he of Oyster Pond, had hesitated 
about investing of his means in a maritime expedition, just as if 
they were all regular shipowners of the largest port in the 
Union. With such men, it is only necessary to exhibit an ac- 
count with a fair prospect of large profits, and they are ever 
ready to enter into the adventure, heart, hand, and pocket. 
Last season, it may have been to look for whales on the coast 
of Japan; the season before that, to search for islands fre- 
quented by the seals ; this season, possibly, to carry a party out 
to hunt for camelopards, set nets for young lions, and beat up 
the quarters of the rhinoceros on the plains of Africa : while 
the next, they may be transporting ice from Long Pond to 


112 


THE SEA LIONS. 


Calcutta and Kingston — not to say to London itself. Of such 
materials are those descendants of the Puritans composed ; a 
mixture of good and evil ; of the religion which clings to the 
past, in recollection rather than in feeling, mingled with a 
worldly-mindedness that amounts nearly to rapacity ; all 
cloaked and rendered decent by a conventional respect for 
duties, and respectable and useful, by frugality, enterprise, and 
untiring activity. 

Roswell Gardiner had not mistaken the persons of those in 
the boat. They proved to be Phil Hazard, his first officer ; 
Tim Green, the second mate ; and the two sealers whom it had 
cost so much time and ingenuity to obtain. Although neither 
of the mates even suspected the truth, no sooner had they en- 
gaged the right sort of man than he was tampered with by the 
agents of the Martha’s Vineyard concern, and spirited away by 
means of more tempting proposals, before he had got quite so far 
as to sign the articles. One of the motives for sending Watson 
across to Oyster Pond had been to induce Captain Gardiner to 
believe he had engaged so skilful a hand, which wqjild effectu- 
ally prevent his attempting to procure another, until, at the last 
moment, he might find himself unable to put to sea for the 
want of a complement. A whaling or a sealing voyage requires 
that the vessel should take out with her the particular hands 
necessary to her specific object, though, of late years, the sea- 
men have got so much in the habit of “ running,” especially in 
the Pacific, that it is only the craft that strictly belong to what 
may be termed the whaling communities, that bring back with 
them the people they carry out, and not always them. 

But here had Roswell Gardiner his complement full, and 
nearly every thing ready to sea. He had only to go up to the 
Harbor and obtain his clearance, have a short interview with 
his owner, a longer with Mary, and be off for the antarctic 
circle, if indeed the ice would allow him to get so far south. 
There were now sixteen souls on board the Sea Lion, a very 
sufficient number for the voyage on which she was about 


THE SEA LIONS. 


113 


to sail. The disposition or rating* of the crew was as fol- 
lows, viz. : 


1. Roswell Gardiner, master. 

2. Philip Hazard, chief mate. 

3. Timothy Green, second do. 

4. David Weeks, carpenter. 


9. Joshua Short, seaman. 

10. Stephen Stimson, do. 

11. Bartlett Davidson, do. 

12. Peter Mount, landsman. 

13. Arcularius Mott, do. 

14. Robert Smith, do. 

15. Cato Livingston, cook. 

16. Primus Floyd, boy. 


5. Nathan Thompson, seaman. 


6. Sylvester Havens, do. 

7. Marcus Todd, do. 

8. Hiram Flint, do. 


This was considered a good crew, on the whole. Every man 
was a native American, and most of them belonged to old 
Suffolk. Thompson, and Flint, and Short, and. Stimson, four 
capital fellows in their way, came from the main ; the last, 
it was said, from as far east as Kennebunk. No matter ; 
they were all reasonably young, hale, active fellows, with a 
promise of excellent service about every man of them. Livings- 
ton and Floyd were colored persons, who bore the names of 
the two respectable families in which they or their progenitors 
had formerly been slaves. Weeks was accustomed to the sea, 
and might have been rated indifferently as a carpenter or as a 
mariner. Mount and Mott, though shipped as landsmen, were 
a good deal accustomed to the water also, having passed each 
two seasons in coasters, though neither had ever yet been 
really outside^ or seen blue water. 

It would not have been easy to give to the Sea Lion a more 
efficient crew ; yet there was scarce a real seaman belonging to 
her — a man who could have been made a captain of the fore- 
castle on board a frigate or a ship of the line. Even Gardiner, 
the best man in his little craft in nearly every respect, was de- 
ficient in many attainments that mark the thorough sea-dog. 
He would have, been remarkable anywhere for personal activity, 
for courage, readiness, hardihood, and all those qualities which 
render a man useful in the business to which he properly be- 
longed ; but he could hardly be termed a skilful leadsman, 
knew little of the finesse of his calling, and was wanting in that 
in-and-in breeding which converts habit into an instinct, and 
causes the thorough seaman to do the right thing, blow high 


114 


THE SEA LIONS. 


or blow low, in the right way, and at the right moment. In 
all these respects, however, he was much the best man on 
board ; and he was so superior to the rest as fully to command 
all their respect. Stimson was probably the next best seaman, 
after the master. 

The day succeeding that on which the Sea Lion received the 
remainder of her people, Roswell Gardiner went up to the 
Harbor, where he met Deacon Pratt, by appointment. The 
object was to clear the schooner out, which could be done only 
at that place. Mary accompanied her uncle, to transact some 
of her own little domestic business ; and it was then arranged 
between the parties, that the deacon should make his last visit 
to his vessel in the return-boat of her master, while Roswell 
Gardiner should take Mary back to Oyster Pond, in the whale- 
boat that had brought her and her uncle over. As Baiting 
Joe, as usual, had acted as ferryman, it was necessary to get 
rid of him, the young sailor desiring to be alone with Mary. 
This was easily enough effected, by a present of a quarter of a 
dollar. The boat having two lugg sails, and the wind being 
light and steady, at southwest, there was nothing to conflict 
with Roswell Gardiner’s wishes. 

The young sailor left the whaif at Sag Harbor about ten 
minutes after the deacon had preceded him, on his way to the 
schooner. As the wind was so light and so fair, he soon had 
his sheets in, and the boat gliding along at an easy rate, which 
permitted him to bestow nearly all his attention on his charm- 
ing companion. Roswell Gardiner had sought this occasion, 
that he might once more open his heart to Mary, and urge his 
suit for the last time, previously to so long an absence. This 
he did in a manly, frank way, that was far from being unpleas- 
ant to his gentle listener, whose inclinations, for a few minutes, 
blinded her to the resolutions already made on principle. So 
urgent was her suitor, indeed, that she should solemnly plight 
her faith to him, ere he sailed, that a soft illusion came over 
the mind of one as affectionate as Mary, and she was half- 


THE SEA LIONS. 


115 


.-a 


inclined to believe her previous determination was unjustifiable 
and obdurate. But the head of one of her high principles, 
and clear views of duty, could not long be deceived by her 
heart, and she regained the self-command which had hitherto 
sustained her in all her former trials, in connection with this 
subject. 

“Perhaps it would have been better, Roswell,” she said, 
“had I taken leave of you at the Harbor, arid not incurred the 
risk of the pain that I foresee I shall both give and bear, in our 
present discourse. I have concealed nothing from you ; possi- 
bly I have been more sincere than prudence would sanction. 
You know the only obstacle there is to our union ; but that 
appears to increase in strength, the more I ask you to reflect on 
it — to try to remove it.” 

“ What would you have me do, Mary ! Surely, not to play ' 
the hypocrite, and profess to believe that which I certainly do 
not, and which, after all my inquiries, I cannot believe.” 

“ I am sorry it is so, on every account,” returned Mary, in a 
low and saddened tone. “ Sorry, that one of so frank, ingenu- 
ous a mind, should And it impossible to accept the creed of his 
fathers, and sorry that it must leave so impassable a chasm be- 
tween us, forever.” 

“ No, Mary ; that can never be ! Nothing but death can 
separate us for so long a time ! While we meet, we shall at 
least be friends ; and friends love to meet and to see each other 
often.” 

“ It may seem unkind, at a moment like this, Roswell, but 
it is in truth the very reverse, if I say we ought not to meet 
each other here, if we are bent on following our own separate 
ways towards a future world. My God is not your God ; and 
what can there be of peace in a family, when its two heads 
worship ditferent deities ? I am afraid that you do not think 
sufficiently of the nature of these things.” 

“ I did not believe you to be so illiberal, Mary ! Had the 
deacon said as much, I might not have been surprised ; but, 


116 


THE SEA LIONS. 


for one like you to tell me that my God is not your God, is 
narrow indeed !” 

“ Is it not so, Roswell ? And, if so, why should we attempt 
to. gloss over the truth by deceptive words? I am a believer 
in the Redeemer, as the Son of God ; as one of the Holy 
Trinity ; while you believe in him only as a man — a righteous 
and just, a sinless man, if you will, but as a man only. Now, 
is not the difference in these creeds immense ? Is it not, in 
truth, just the difference between God and man ? I worship 
my Redeemer ; regard him as the equal of the Father — as a 
part of that Divine Being ; while you look on him as merely a 
man without sin — as a man such as Adam probably was before 
the fall.” 

“ Do we know enough of these matters, Mary, to justify us 
in allowing them to interfere with our happiness ?” 

“ We are told that they are all-essential to our happiness — 
not in the sense you may mean, Roswell, but in one of far 
higher import — and we cannot neglect them without paying 
the penalty.” 

“ I think you carry these notions too far, dearest Mary, and 
that it is possible for man and wife most heartily to love each 
other, and to be happy in each other, without their thinking 
exactly alike on religion. How many good and pious women 
do you see, who are contented and prosperous as wives and 
mothers, and who are members of meeting, but whose husbands 
make no profession of any sort !” 

“That may be true, or not. I lay no claim to a right to 
judge of any other’s duties, or manner of viewing what they 
ought to do. Thousands of girls marry without feeling the 
very obligations that they profess to reverence ; and when, in 
after life, deeper convictions come, they cannot cast aside the 
connections they have previously formed, if they would ; and 
probably would not if they could. That is a different thing 
from a young woman, who has a deep sense of what she owes 
to her Redeemer, becoming deliberately, and with a full sense 


THE SEA LIONS. 


117 


of what she is doing, the wife of one who regards her God as 
merely a man — I care not how you qualify this opinion, by 
saying a pure and sinless man ; it will be man still. The dif- 
ference between God and man is too immense to be frittered 
away by any such qualifications as that.” 

“ But, if I find it impossible to believe all you believe, Mary, 
surely you would not punish me for having the sincerity to 
tell you the truth, and the whole truth.” 

“ No, indeed, Roswell,” answered the honest girl, gently, not 
to say tenderly. “ Nothing has given me a better opinion of 
your principles, Roswell — a higher notion of what your upright 
and frank character really is, than the manly way in which 
you have admitted the justice of my suspicions of your want of 
faith — of faith, as I consider faith can alone exist. This fair 
dealing has made me honor you, and esteem you, in addition 
to the more girlish attachment that I do not wish to conceal 
from you, at least, I have so long felt.” 

“ Blessed Mary !” exclaimed Roswell Gardiner, almost ready 
to fall down on his knees and worship the pretty enthusiast, 
who sat at his side, with a countenance in which intense inter- 
est in his welfare was beaming from two of the softest and 
sweetest blue eyes that maiden ever bent on a youth in modest 
tenderness, whatever disposition he might be in to accept her 
God as his God. “ How can one so kind in all other respects, 
prove so cruel in this one particular !” 

“ Because that one particular, as you term it, Roswell, is all 
in all to her,” answered the girl, with a face that was now 
flushed with feeling. “ I must answer you as Joshua told the 
Israelites of old — ‘ Choose you, this day, whom you will serve ; 
whether the gods which your fathers served, that were on the 
other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose 
land ye dwell : hut as for me and my house^ we will serve the 
Lord: ” 

“ Do you class me with the idolaters and pagans of Pales- 
tine ?” demanded Gardiner, reproachfully. 


118 


THE SEA LIONS. 


“ You have said it, Roswell. It is not I, but yourself, who 
have thus classed you. You worship your reason, instead of 
the only true and living God. This is idolatry of the worst 
character, since the idol is never seen by the devotee, and he 
does not know of its existence.” 

“You consider it then idolatry for one to use those gifts 
which he has received from his Maker, and to treat the most 
important of all subjects, as a rational being, instead of receiv- 
ing a creed blindly, and without thought ?” 

“ If what you call thought could better the matter ; if it 
were sufficient to comprehend and master this subject, there 
might be force in what you say. But what is this boasted 
reason after all ? It is not sufficient to explain a single mys- 
tery of the creation, though there are thousands. I know there 
are, nay there must be, a variety of opinions among those who 
look to their reasons, instead of accepting the doctrine of reve- 
lation, for the character of Christ ; but I believe all who are 
not open infidels, admit that the atonement of his death was 
sufficient for the salvation of men : now, can you explain this 
part of the theory of our religion any more than you can ex- 
plain the divine nature of the Redeemer ? Can you reason any 
more wisely touching the fall, than touching the redemption 
itself ? I know I am unfit to treat of matters of this profound 
nature,” continued Mary, modestly, though with great earnest- 
ness and beauty of manner ; “ but, to me, it seems very plain 
that the instant circumstances lead us beyond the limits of our 
means of comprehension, we are to believe in, and not to reason 
on, revelation. The whole history of Christianity teaches this. 
Its first ministers were uneducated men ; men who were totally 
ignorant until enlightened by their faith ; and all the lessons it 
teaches are to raise faith, and faith in the Redeemer, high 
above all other attainments, as the one great acquisition that 
includes and colors every othei*. When such is the fact, the 
heart does not make a stumbling-block of every thing that the 
head cannot understand.” 


THE SEA LIONS. 


119 


“ I do not know how it is,” answered Roswell Gardiner, in- 
fluenced, though unconvinced ; “ but when I talk with you on 
this subject, Mary, I cannot do justice to my opinions, or to 
the manner in which I reason on them with my male friends 
and acquaintance. I confess it does appear to me illogical, 
unreasonable — I scarce know how to designate what I mean 
— but, improbable, that God should suffer himself, or his Son, 
to be crucified by beings that he himself created, or that 
he should feel a necessity for any such course, in order to re- 
deem beings he had himself brought into existence.” 

“ If there be any argument in the last, Roswell, it is an ar- 
gument as much against the crucifixion of a man, as against 
the crucifixion of one of the Trinity itself. I understand you 
to believe that such a being as Jesus of Nazareth did exist ; 
that he was crucified for our redemption ; and that the atone- 
ment was accepted, and acceptable before God the Father. 
Now, is it not just as difficult to understand how, or why, 
this should be, as to understand the common creed of Chris- 
tians ?” 

“ Surely there is a vast difference between the crucifixion 
of a subordinate being, and the crucifixion of one who made 
a part of the Godhead itself, Mary ! I can imagine the first, 
though I may not pretend to understand its reasons, or why it 
was necessary it should be so ; but, I am certain you will 
not mistake my motive when I say, I cannot imagine the 
other.” 

“ Make no apologies to me, Roswell ; look rather to that 
dread Being whose teachings, through chosen ministers, you 
disregard. As for what you say, I can fully feel its truth. I 
do not pretend to understand why such a sacrifice should be 
necessary, but I believe it, feel it ; and believing and feeling it, 
I cannot but adore and worship the Son, who quitted heaven 
to come on earth, and suffered, that we might possess eternal 
life. It is all mystery to me, as is the creation itself, our exist- 
ence, God himself, and all else that my mind is too limited to 


120 


THE SEA LIONS. 


comprehend. But, Roswell, if I believe a part of the teachings 
of the Christian church, I must believe all. The apostles, who 
were called by Christ in person, who lived in his very presence, 
who knew nothing except as the Holy Spirit prompted, wor- 
shipped him as the Son of God, as one ‘who thought it not 
robbery to be equal with God and shall I, ignorant and unin- 
spired, pretend to set up my feeble means of reasoning, in op- 
position to their written instructions !” 

“ Yet must each of us stand or fall by the means he pos- 
sesses, and the use he makes of them.” 

“ That is quite true, Roswell ; and ask yourself the use to 
which you put your own faculties. I do not deny that we are 
to exercise our reason, but it is within the bounds set for its 
exercise. We may examine the evidence of Christianity, and 
determine for ourselves how far it is supported by reasonable 
and sufficient proofs ; beyond this we cannot be expected to go, 
else might we be required to comprehend the mystery of our 
own existence, which just as much exceeds our understanding 
as any other. We are told that man was created in the image 
of his Creator, which means that there is an immortal and 
spiritual part of him that is entirely different from the material 
creature. One perishes, temporarily at least — a limb can be 
severed from the body and perish, even while the body sur- 
vives ; but it is not so with that which has been created in the 
image of the Deity. That is imperishable, immortal, spiritual, 
though doomed to dwell awhile in a tenement of clay. Now, 
why is it more difficult to believe that pure divinity may have 
entered into the person of one man, than to believe, nay to feel, 
that the image of God has entered into the persons of so many 
myriads of men ? You not only overlook all this, Roswell, but 
you commit the, to me inexplicable, mistake of believing a part 
of a mystery, while you hesitate about believing all. Were you 
to deny the merits of the atonement altogether, your position 
would be much stronger than it is in believing what you do. 
But, Roswell, we will not embitter the moment of separation 


THE SEA LIONS. 


121 


by talking more on this subject now. I have other things to 
say to you, and but little time to say them in. The promise 
you have asked of me to remain single until your return, I 
most freely make. It costs me nothing to give you this 
pledge, since there is scarce a possibility of my ever marrying 
another.” 

Mary repeated these words, or lather this idea in other 
words, to Roswell Gardiner’s great delight ; and again and 
again he declaied that he could now penetrate the icy seas 
with a light heart, confident he should find her, on his return, 
disengaged, and, as he hoped, as much disposed to regard him 
with interest as she then was. Nevertheless, Gardiner did not 
deceive himself as to Mary’s intentions. He knew her and her 
principles too 'well, to fancy that her resolution would be very 
likely to falter. Notwithstanding their long and intimate 
knowdedge of each other, at no time had she ever betrayed a 
weakness that promised to undermine her high sense of duty ; 
and as time increased her means of judging of what those 
duties were, her submission to them seemed to be stronger and 
stronger. Had there been any thing stern or repulsive in 
Mary’s manner of manifesting the feeling that was uppermost in 
her mind, one of Roswell Gardiner’s temperament would have 
been very apt to shake off her influence ; but, so far from this 
being the case, she ever met him and parted from him with a 
gentle and ingenuous interest in his welfare, and occasionally 
with much womanly tenderness. He knew that she prayed for 
him daily, as fervently as she prayed for herself; and even 
this, he hoped, would serve to keep alive her interest in him, 
during his absence. In this respect our young sailor showed 
no bad comprehension of human nature, nothing being more 
likely to maintain an influence of this sort than the conviction 
that on ourselves depends the happiness or interests of the per- 
son beloved. 


6 


122 


THE SEA LIONS 





CHAPTER VIII 





“And I have loved thee, Ocean 1 and my joy 
Of youthful sports was on thy breast to be 
Borne, like thy bubbles, onward ; from a boy 
I wanton’d with thy breakers— they to mo 
Were a delight ; and if the freshening sea 
Made them a terror— ’twas a pleasing fear ; 

For I was, as it were, a child of thec, 

And trusted to thy billows, far and near, 

And laid my hand upon thy mane — as I do here.” 



Byron, 


It was past the turn of the day when Roswell Gardiner : 
reached his vessel, after having carefully and with manly in- 
terest in all that belonged to her, seen Mary to her home, and 
taken his final leave of her. Of that parting we shall say but 
little. It was touching and warm-hearted, and it was rendered 
a little solemn by Mary Pratt’s putting into her lover’s hand a jl 
pocket-bible, with an earnest request that he would not forget ** 
to consult its pages. She added, at the same time, that she 
had carefully marked those passages which she wished him 
most to study and reflect on. The book was accepted in the 
spirit in which it was offered, and carefully placed in a little j 
case that contained about a hundred volumes of different I 
works. j 

As the hour approached for lifting the anchor, the nervous- 
ness of the deacon became very apparent to the commander of i 
his schooner. At each instant the former was at the latter’s | 
elbow, making some querulous suggestion, or asking a question 1 
that betrayed the agitated and unsettled state of his mind. It 
really seemed as if the old man, at the last moment, had not J 
the heart to part with his property, or to trust it out of his 
sight. All this annoyed Roswell Gardiner, disposed as he ‘ 


THE SEA LIONS. 


123 


was, at that instant, to regard every person and thing that 
in any manner pertained to Mary Pratt, with indulgence and 
favor. 

“ You will be particular about them islands, Captain Gar’ner, 
and not get the schooner ashore,” said the deacon, for the tenth 
time at least. “ They tell me the tide runs like a horse in the 
high latitudes, and that seamen are often stranded by them, be- 
fore they know where they are ” 

. “ Ay, ay, sir ; I’ll try and bear it in mind,” answered Gardi- 

ner, vexed at being importuned so often to recollect that 
which there was so little likelihood of his forgetting. “ I am 
an old cruiser in those seas, deacon, and know all about the 
tides. Well, Mr. Hazard, what is the news of the anchor?” 

“ We are short, sir, and only wait for orders to go on, and 
get clear of the ground ” 

“ Trip at once, sir ; and so farewell to America — or to this 
end of it, at least.” 

“ Then the keys, they tell me, are dangerous navigation, 
Gar’ner, and a body needs have all his eyes about him.” 

“ All places have their dangers to your sleepy navigator, dea- 
con ; but the man who keeps his eyes open has little to fear. 
Had you given us a chronometer, there would not have been 
one-half the risk there will be without one.” 

This had been a bone of contention between the master of 
the Sea Lion and his owner, Chronometers were not, by any 
means, in as general use at the period of our tale as they are 
to-day ; and the deacon abhorred the expense to which such 
an article would have put him. Could he have got one at a 
fourth of the customary price he might have been tempted ; 
f but it formed no part of his principles of saving to anticipate 
I and prevent waste by liberality. 

! No sooner was the schooner released from the ground than 
i her sails were filled, and she went by the low spit of sand al- 
ready mentioned, with the light southwest breeze still blowing 
; in her favor, and an ebb tide. Every thing appeared propi- 

i 


124 


THE SEA LIONS. 


tious, and no vessel probably ever left home under better 
omens. The deacon remained on board until Baiting Joe, who 
was to act as his boatman, reminded him of the distance and 
the probability that the breeze would go down entirely with 
the sun. As it was, they had to contend with wind and tide, 
and it would require all his own knowledge of the eddies to get 
the whale-boat up to Oyster Pond in any thing like reasonable 
time. Thus admonished, the owner tore himself away from his 
beloved craft, giving “ young Gar’ner” as many “ last words” as , 
if he were about to be executed. Roswell had a last word on 
his part, however, in the shape of a message to Mary. 

“ Tell Mary, deacon,” said the young sailor, in an aside, “ that 
I rely on her promise, and that I shall think of her, whether it 
be under the burning sun of the line, or among the ice of the 
antarctic.” 

“ Yes, yes ; that’s as it should be,” answered the deacon, 
heartily. “ I like your perseverance, Gar’ner, and hope the 
gal will come round yet, and I shall have you for a nephew. 
There’s nothing that takes the women’s minds like money. 
Fill up the schooner with skins and ile, and bring back that 
treasure, and you make as sure of Mary for a wife as if the par- 
son had said the benediction over you.” 

Such was Deacon Pratt’s notion of his niece, as well as of 
the female sex. For months he regarded this speech as a cowp 
de maitre^ while Roswell Gardiner forgot it in half an hour ; so 
much better than the uncle did the lover comprehend the 
character of the niece. 

The Sea Lion, of Oyster Pond, had now cast off the last liga- 
ment which connected her with the land. She had no pilot, 
none being necessary, or usual, in those waters ; all that a ves- 
sel had to do being to give Long Island a suflScient berth in 
rounding its eastern extremity. The boat was soon shut in by 
Gardiner’s Island, and thenceforth nothing remained but the 
ties of feeling to connect those bold adventurers with their na- 
tive country. It is true that Connecticut, and subsequently 


THE SEA LIONS. 


125 


Rhode Island, was yet visible on one hand, and a small portion 
of New York on the other ; but as darkness came to close the 
scene, even that means of communication was soon virtually 
cut off. The light on Montauk, for hours, was the sole beacon 
for these bold mariners, who rounded it about midnight, fairly 
meeting the long, rolling swell of the broad Atlantic. Then 
the craft might be said to be at sea for the first time. 

The Sea Lion was found to perform well. She had been 
constructed with an eye to comfort, as well as to sailing, and 
possessed that just proportion in her hull which carried her 
over the surface of the waves like a duck. This quality is of 
more importance to a small than to a large vessel, for the want 
of momentum renders what is termed “ burying” a very dead 
ening process to a light craft. In this very important particu- 
lar Roswell was soon satisfied that the shipwright had done 
his duty. 

As the wind still stood at southwest, the schooner was 
brought upon an easy bowline, as soon as she had Montauk 
light dead to windward. This new course carried her out to 
sea, steering south-southeast, a little easterly, under every thing 
that would draw. The weather appearing- settled, and there 
being no signs of a change, Gardiner now went below and 
turned in, leaving the care of the vessel to the proper offices of 
the watch, with an order to call him at sunrise. Fatigue soon 
asserted its power, and the young man was shortly in as pro- 
found a sleep as if he had not just left a mistress whom he al- 
most worshipped for an absence of two years, and to go on a 
voyage that probably would expose him to more risks and suf- 
fering than any other enterprise then attempted by sea-faring 
men. Our young sailor thought not of the last at all, but he 
fell asleep dreaming of Mary. 

The master of the Sea Lion of Oyster Pond was called pre- 
cisely at the hour he had named. Five minutes sufliced to 
bring him on deck, where he found every thing as he had left 
it, with the exception of the schooner itself. In the six hours 


126 


THE SEA LIONS. 


he had been below, his vessel had moved her position out to 
sea nearly forty miles. No land was now to be seen, the 
American coast being very tame and un picturesque to the eye, 
as the purest patriot, if he happen to know any thing of other 
parts of the world, must be constrained to admit. A low, 
monotonous coast, that is scarcely visible at a distance of five 
leagues, is certainly not to be named in the same breath with 
those glorious shores of the Mediterranean, for instance, where 
nature would seem to have exhausted herself in uniting the 
magnificent with the bewitching. On this continent, or on our 
own portion of it at least, we must be content with the useful, 
and lay no great claims to the beautiful ; the rivers and bays 
giving us some compensation in their admirable commercial 
facilities, for the sameness, not to say tameness, of the views. 
We mention these things in passing, as a people that does not 
understand its relative position in the scale of nations, is a little 
apt to fall into errors that do not contribute to its character or 
respectability ; more especially when they exhibit a self-love 
founded altogether on ignorance, and which has been liberally 
fed by fiattery. 

The first thing a seaman does on coming on deck, after a 
short absence, is to look to windward, in order to see how the 
wind stands, and what are the prospects of the weather. Then 
he turns his eyes aloft to ascertain what canvas is spread, and 
how it draws. Occasionally, the order of these observations is 
changed, the first look being sometimes bestowed on the sails, 
and the second on the clouds. Roswell Gardiner, however, 
cast his first glance this morning towards the southward and 
westward, and perceived that the breeze promised to be steady. 
On looking aloft, he was well satisfied with the manner in 
which every thing drew ; then he turned to the second mate, 
who had the watch, whom he addressed cheerfully, and with a 
courtesy that is not always observed among sailors. 

“ A fine morning, sir,” said Roswell Gardiner, “ and a good- 
by to America. We’ve a long road to travel, Mr. Green, but 


THE SEA LIONS. 


127 


we’ve a fast boat to do it in. Here is an offing ready-made to 
our hands. Nothing in sight to the westward ; not so much as 
a coaster even ! It’s too early for the outward-bound craft of 
the last ebb, and too late for those that sailed the tide before. 
I never saw this bight of the coast clearer of canvas.” 

“ Ay, ay, sir ; it does seem empty, like. Here’s a chap, 
however, to leeward, who appears inclined to try his rate of 
sailing with us. Here he is, sir, a very little abaft the beam ; 
and, as near as I can make him out, he’s a foretawsail schooner, 
of about our own dimensions ; if you’ll just look at him through 
this glass. Captain Gar’ner, you’ll see he has not only our rig, 
but our canvas set.” 

“ You are right enough, Mr. Green,” returned Roswell, after 
getting his look. “ He is a schooner of about our tonnage, and 
under precisely our canvas. How long has the fellow bore as 
he does now ?” 

“ He came out from under Blok Island a few hours since, 
and we made him by moonlight. The question with me is, 
where did that chap come from ? A Stunnin’tun man would 
bave naturally passed to windward of Blok Island ; and a 
Newport or Providence fellow would not have fetched so far to 
windward without making a stretch or two on purpose. That 
schooner has bothered me ever since it was daylight ; for I 
can’t place him where he is by any traverse my poor I’arnin 
can work !” 

“ She does seem to be out of her way. Possibly it is a 
schooner beating up for the Hook, and finding herself too close 
in, she is standing to the southward to get an offing again.” 

“ Not she, sir. She came out from behind Blok, and a craft 
of her size that wanted to go to the westward, and which 
found itself so close in, would have taken the first of the fiood 
and gone through the Race like a shot. No, no. Captain 
Gar’ner ; this fellow is bound south as well as ourselves, and it 
is quite unaccountable how he should be just where he is — so 
far to windward, or so far to leeward, as a body might say. A 


128 


THE SEA LIONS. 


south-southeast course, from any place behind Point Judith, 
would have taken him off near No Man’s Land, and here he is 
almost in a line with Blok Island !” 

“ Perhaps he is out of New London, or some of the ports on 
the main, and being bound to the West Indies he has been a 
little careless about weathering the island. It’s no great mat- 
ter, after all.” 

“ It is some such mattei’. Captain Gar’ner, as walkin’ round 
a meetin’-us’ when your ar’n’d is at the door in front. But 
there was no such craft in at Stunnin’tun or New London, as I 
know from havin’ been at both places within the last eight-and- 
forty hours.” 

“ You begin to make me as curious about this fellow as you 
seem to be yourself, sir. And now I think the matter all over, 
it is somewhat extr’or’nary he should be just where he is. It 
is, however, a very easy thing to get a nearer look at him, and 
it’s no great matter to us, intending as we do to make the 
islands off the Cape de Verde, if we do lose a little of our 
Weatherly position — keep the schooner away a point, and get 
a small pull on your weather braces — give her a little sheet 
too, fore and aft, sir. So, that will do — keep her steady at that 
— southeast and by south. In two hours we shall just about 
speak this out-of-the-way joker.” 

As every command was obeyed, the Sea Lion was soon run- 
ning off free, her bowlines hanging loose, and all her canvas a 
rap full. The change in her liue of sailing brought the sail to 
leeward, a little forward of her beam ; but the movement of the 
vessel that made the freest wind was consequently the most 
rapid. In the course of half an hour the stranger was again a 
little abaft the beam, and he was materially nearer than when 
first seen. No change was made in the route of the stranger, 
who now seemed disposed to stand out to sea, with the wind 
as it was, on an easy bowline, without paying any attention to 
the sail in sight. 

It w?is noon ere the two schooners came within hail of each. 




THE SEA LIONS. 


129 


other. Of course, as they drew nearer and nearer, it was possi- 
ble for those on board of each to note the appearance, equip- 
ments, and other peculiarities of his neighbor. In size, there 
was no apparent difference between the vessels, and there was 
a somewhat remarkable resemblance in the details. 

I “That fellow is no West India drogger,” said Boswell Gar- 
j diner, when less than a mile from the stranger. “He carries a 
! boat on deck, as we do, and has one on each quarter, too. 
Can it be possible that he is bound after seals, as well as we are 
ourselves !” 

“ I believe you’re right, sir,” answered Hazard, the chief 
I mate, who was now on deck. “ There’s a sealing look about the 
I gentleman, if I know my own complexion. It’s odd enough, 
j Captain Gar’ner, that two of us should come together, oul here 
I in the ofiing, and both of us bound to the other end of the 
^ ’arth!” 

I 

j “ There is nothing so very remarkable in that^ Mr. Hazard, 
j when we remember that the start must be properly timed for 
[ those who wish to be off Cape Horn in the summer season. 

: We shall neither of us get there much before December, and I 
I suppose the master of yon schooner knows that as well as I do 
myself. The position of this craft puzzles me far more than 
any thing else about her. From what port can a vessel come, 
that she should be just here, with the wind at southwest ?” 

“ Ay, sir,” put in Green, who was moving about the decks, 
coiling ropes and clearing things away, “ that’s what I tell the 
chief mate. Where can a craft come from, to be just here, 
with this wind, if she don’t come from Stunnin’tun. Even 
from Stunnin’tun she’d be out of her way ; but no such vessel 
has been in that port any time these six weeks. Here, you 
i Stimson, come this way a bit. Didn’t you tell me something 
of having seen a schooner at New Bedford, that was about our 
build and burden, and that you understood had been bought 
for a sealer ?” 

“ Ay, ay, sir,” answered Stimson, as bluff an old sea-dog as 
6 ^ 


130 


THE SEA LIONS. 


ever flattened in a jib-sheet, “ and that’s the craft, as I’m a 
thinkin’, Mr. Green. She had an animal for a figure-head, and 
that craft has an animal, as well as I can judge at this dis- 
tance.” 

“ You are right enough there, Stephen,” cried Roswell Gar- 
diner, “ and that animal is a seal. It’s the twin-brother of the 
sea lion we carry under our own bowsprit. There’s some proof 
in that, tastes agree sometimes, even if they do dififer generally. 
What became of the schooner you saw ?” 

“ I heard, sir, that she was bought up by some Vineyard 
men, and was taken across to Hum’ses Hull. They sometimes 
fit out a craft there, as well as on the main. I should have 
crossed myself to see what they was at, but I fell in with Mr. 
Green, and shipped aboard here.” 

“ An adventure by which, I hope, you will not be a loser, my 
hearty,” put in the captain. “ And you think that is the craft 
which was built at New Bedford, and fitted out on the Vine- 
yard ?” 

“ Sartain of it, sir ; for I know the figure-head, and all about 
her build.” 

“ Hand me the trumpet, Mr. Green ; we shall soon be near 
enough for a hail, and it will be easy to learn the truth.” 

Roswell Gardiner waited a few minutes for the two schooners 
to close, and was in the very act of applying the trumpet to his 
mouth, when the usual salutation was sent across the water 
from the stranger. During the conversation that now took 
place, the vessels gradually drew nearer to each other, until 
both parties laid aside their trumpets, and carried on the dis- 
course with the unaided voice. 

“ Schooner, ahoy !” was the greeting of the stranger, and a 
simple “ Hilloa !” the answer. 

“ What schooner is that, pray ?” 

“ The Sea Lion, of Oyster Pond, Long Island ; bound to 
the southward, after seal, as I suppose you know by our 
outfit.” 


THE SEA LIONS. 


131 


“ When did you leave Oyster Pond — and how did you leave 
your owner, the good Deacon Pratt ?” 

“We sailed yesterday afternoon, on the first of the ebb, 
and the deacon left us as we weighed anchor. He was well, 
and full of hope for our luck. What schooner is that, 
pray ?” 

“ The Sea Lion, of Hum’ses Hull ; bound to the southward^ 
after seals, as you probably knew by our outfit. Who com- 
mands that schooner ?” 

“ Captain Roswell Gar’ner ; — who commands aboard you, 
pray ?” 

“ Captain Jason Daggett,” showing himself more plainly, by 
moving out of the line of the main-rigging. “ I had the 
pleasure of seeing you when I was on the P’int, looking after 
my uncle’s dunnage, you may remember, Captain Gar’ner. 
’Twas but the other day, and you are not likely to have for- 
gotten my visit.” 

“ Not at all, not at all. Captain Daggett ; though I had no 
idea then that you intended to make a voyage to the south- 
ward so soon. When did you leave the Hole, sir ?” 

“Day before yesterday, a’ternoon. We came out of the 
Hull about five o’clock.” 

“ How had you the wind, sir ?” 

“ Sou’west, and sou’west and by south* There has been but 
little change in that these three days.’’ 

Roswell Gardiner muttered something to himself ; but he 
did not deem it prudent to utter the thoughts, that were just 
then passing through his mind, aloud. 

“ Ay, ay,” he answered, after a moment’s pause, “ the wind 
has stood there the whole week ; but I think we shall shortly 
get a change. There is an easterly feeling in the air.” 

“ Waal, let it come. With this offing, we could clear Hat- 
teras with any thing that wasn’t worse than a southeaster. 
There’s a southerly set, in here, down the coast, for two or 
three hundred miles.” 


132 


THE SEA LIONS. 


“ A heavy southeaster would jam us in, here, between the 
shoals, in a way I shouldn’t greatly relish, sir. I like always 
to get to the eastward of the Stream, as soon as I can, in run- 
ning off the land.” 

“Very true, Captain Gar’ner — very true, sir. It is best to 
get outside the Stream, if a body can. Once there, I call a 
craft at sea. Eight-and-foity hours more of this wind would 
just about carry us there. Waal, sir, as we’re bound on the 
same sort of v’y’ge, I’m happy to have fallen in with you ; and 
I see no reason why we should not be neighborly, and ‘ gam’ 
it a little, when we’ve nothing better to do. I like that 
schooner of yours so w^ell, that I’ve made my own to look as 
nearly resembling her as I could. You see our paint is ex- 
actly the same.” 

“ I have observed that. Captain Daggett ; and you might 
say the same of the figure-heads.” 

“ Ay, ay ; when I was over on the P’int, they told me the 
name of the carver, in Boston, who cut your seal, and I sent to 
him to cut me a twin. If they lay in a ship-yard, side by 
side, I don’t think you could tell one from the other.” 

“ So it seems, sir. Pray, haven’t you a man aboard there 
of the name of Watson ?” 

“ Ay, ay — he’s my second mate. I know what you mean. 
Captain Gar’ner — you’re right enough, ’tis the same hand who 
was aboard you ; but wanting a second officer, I offered him 
the berth, and he thought that better than taking a foremast 
lay in your craft.” 

This explanation probably satisfied all who heard it, though 
the truth was not more than half told. In point of fact, Wat- 
son was engaged as Daggett’s second mate before he ever laid 
eyes on Roswell Gardiner, and had been sent to w^atch the pro- 
gress of the work on Oyster Pond, as has been previously 
stated. It was so much in the natural order of events for a 
man to accept preferment when offered, however, that even 
Gardiner himself blamed the delinquent for the desertion fai 


THE SEA LIONS. 


133 


less than he had previously done. In the mean time the con- 
versation proceeded. 

“ You told us nothing of your having that schooner fitting, 
when you were on the Point,” observed Roswell Gardiner, 
whose thoughts just then happened to advert to this particular 
fact. 

“ My mind was pretty much taken up with the affairs of my 
poor uncle, I suppose. Captain Gar’ner. Death must visit each 
of us once ; nevertheless, it makes us all melancholy when he 
comes among friends.” 

Now, Roswell Gardiner was not in the least sentimental, 
nor had he the smallest turn towards indulging in moral infer- 
ences, from ordinary events ; but, this answer seemed so proper, 
that it found no objection in his mind. Still, the young man 
had his suspicions on the subject of the equipment of the 
other schooner, and suspicions that were now active and keen, 
and which led him directly to fancy that Daggett had also 
some clew to the very objects he was after himself. Singular 
as it may seem at first. Deacon Pratt’s interests were favorably 
affected by this unexpected meeting with the Sea Lion of 
Holmes’ Hole. From the first, Roswell Gardiner had been in- 
disposed to give full credit to the statements of the deceased 
mariner, ascribing no small part of his account to artifice, stim- 
ulated by a desire to render himself important. But, now that 
he found one of this man’s family embarked in an enterprise 
similar to his own, his views of its expediency were sensibly 
changed. Perfectly familiar with the wary economy with 
which every interest was regulated in that part of the world, 
he did not believe a company of Martha’s Vineyard men would 
risk their money in an enterprise that they had not good reasons 
for believing would succeed. Although it exceeded his means 
to appreciate fully the information possessed by the Vineyard 
folk, and covetousness did not quicken his faculties on this 
subject, as they had quickened those of the deacon, he could 
see enough to satisfy his mind that either the sealing-islands. 


134 


THE SEA LIONS. 


or the booty of the pirates, or both, had a reality, in the judg- 
ments of others, which had induced them also to risk their 
money in turning their knowledge to account. The effect of 
this conviction was very natural. It induced Roswell to re- 
gard the charts, and his instructions, and all connected with 
his voyage, as much more serious matters than he had origi- 
nally been inclined to do. Until now, he had thought it well 
enough to let the deacon have his fancies, relying on his own 
ability to obtain a cargo for the schooner, by visiting sealing 
stations where he had been before ; but now, he determined to 
steer at once for Daggett’s Islands, as he and his owner named 
the land revealed to them, and ascertain what could be done 
there. He thought it probable the other Sea Lion might wish 
to keep him company ; but the distance was so great, that a 
hundred occasions must occur when it would be in his power 
to shake off such a consort, should he deem it necessary. 

For several hours the two schooners stood on in company, 
keeping just without hailing distance apart, and sailing so 
nearly alike as to render it hard to say which craft had the 
best of it. There was nothing remarkable in the fact that two 
vessels, built for the same trade, should have a close general 
resemblance to each other ; but it was not common to find 
them so moulded, stowed, sparred, and handled, that their rate 
of sailing should be nearly identical. If there was any differ- 
ence, it was slightly in favor of the Sea Lion of the Vineyard, 
which rather drew ahead of her consort, if consort the other 
Sea Lion could be termed, in the course of the afternoon. 

It is scarcely necessary to say that many were the specula- 
tions that were made on board these rival vessels — competitors 
now for the commonest glories of their pursuits, as well as in 
the ultimate objects of their respective voyages. On the part of 
Roswell Gardiner and his two mates, they did not fail, in par- 
ticular, to comment on the singularity of the circumstance 
that the Sea Lion of the Vineyard should be so far out of her 
direct line of sailing. 


THE SEA LIONS. 


135 


“ Althoiigli we have had the wind at sow-west” (sot^-west al- 
ways, as pronounced by every seaman, from the Lord High 
Admiral of England, when there happens to be such a func- 
tionary, down to the greenest hand on board the greenest 
sealer) “ for these last few days,” said Hazard, “ anybody can 
see we shall soon have easterly weather. There’s an easterly 
feel in the air, and all last night the water had an easterly 
glimmer about it. Now, why a man who came out of the 
Vineyard Sound, and who had nothing to do but just to clear 
the west eend of his own island, and then lay his course off 
yonder to the southward and eastward, should bear up cluss 
(Anglice, close) under Blok, and stretch out to sea, for all the 
world as if he was a Stunnin’tun chap, or a New Lunnoner, that 
had fallen a little to leeward, is more than I can understand. 
Captain Gar’ner! Depend on it, sir, there’s a reason for’t. 
Men don’t put schooners into the water, now-a-days, and give 
them costly outfits, with three whale-boats, and sealin’ gear 
in abundance, just for the fun of making fancy traverses 
on or off a coast, like your yacht gentry, who never know 
what they would be at, and who never make a v’y’ge worth 
speaking on.” 

“ I have been turning all this over in my mind, Mr. Hazard,” 
answered the young master, who was amusing himself at the 
moment with strapping a small block, while he threw many a 
glance at the vessel that was just as close under his lee as 
comported with her sailing. “ There is a reason for it, as you 
say ; but, I can find no other than the fact that she has come 
so much out of her way, in order to fall in with us ; knowing 
that we were to come round Montauk at a particular time.” 

“ Well, sir, that may have been her play ! Men bound the 
same way often wish to fall into good company, to make the 
journey seem the shorter, by making it so much the pleas- 
anter.” 

“ Those fellows can never suppose the two schooners will 
keep in sight of each other from forty-one degrees north all the 


136 


THE SEA LIONS. 


way to seventy south, or perhaps further south still ! If we 
remain near each other a week, ’twill be quite out of the com- 
mon way.” 

“ I don’t know that, sir. I was once in a sealer that, do all 
she could, couldn’t get shut of a curious neighbor. When 
seals are scarce, and the master don’t know where to look for 
’em, he is usually glad to drop into some vessel’s wake, if it be 
only to pick up her leavin’s.” 

“ Outfits are not made on such chances as that. These 
Vineyard people know where they are going as well as we 
know ourselves ; perhaps better.” 

“ There is great confidence aboard here, in the master. Cap- 
tain Gar’ner. I overheard the watch talking the matter over 
early this morning ; and there was but one opinion among 
them^ I can tell you, sir.” 

“ Which opinion was, Mr. Hazard — ” 

“ That a lay aboard this craft would be worth a lay and a 
half aboard any other schooner out of all America ! Sailors go 
partly on skill and partly on luck, I’ve known hands that 
wouldn’t ship with the best masters that ever sailed a vessel, 
if they didn’t think they was lucky as well as skilful.” 

“ Ay, ay, it’s all luck ! Little do these fellows think of 
Providence — or of deserving^ or undeserving. Well, I hope the 
schooner will not disappoint them — or her master, either. 
But, whaling and sealing, and trusting to the chances of the 
ocean, and our most flattering hopes, may mislead us after, all.” 

“ Ay, ay, sir ; nevertheless. Captain Gar’ner has a name, and 
men will trust to it !” 

Our young master could not but be flattered at this, which 
came at a favorable moment to sustain the resolutions awak- 
ened by the competition with the rival schooner. Although so 
obviously competitors, and that in a matter of trade, the inter- 
est which above all others is apt to make men narrow-minded 
and hostile to each other, though the axiom would throw this 
particular reproach on doctors^ there were no visible signs that 


THE SEA LIONS. 


137 


the two vessels did not maintain the most amicable relations. 
As the day advanced the wind fell, and after many passages of 
nautical compliments, by means of signals and the trumpet, 
Roswell Gardiner fairly lowered a boat into the water, and 
went a “ gamming,” as it is termed, on board the other 
schooner. 

Each of these little vessels was well provided with boats, and 
those of the description in common use among whalers. A 
whale-boat differs from the ordinary jolly-boat, launch, or yawl 
— gigs, barges, dinguis, <fec., &c., being exclusively for the ser- 
vice of vessels of war — in the following particulars, viz. : — It is 
sharp at both ends, in order that it may “ back oft*,” as well as 
“ pull on ;” it steers with an oar instead of with a rudder, in 
order that the bows may be thrown round to avoid danger 
when not in motion ; it is buoyant, and made to withstand 
the shock of waves at both ends ; and it is light and shallow, 
though strong, that it may be pulled with facility. When it is 
remembered that one of these little egg-shells — little as vessels, 
though of good size as boats — is often dragged through 
troubled waters at the rate of ten or twelve knots, and fre- 
quently at even a swifter movement, one can easily understand 
how much depends on its form, buoyancy, and strength. 
Among seamen, it is commonly thought that a whale-boat is 
the safest craft of the sort in which men can trust themselves in 
rough water. 

Captain Daggett received his guest with marked civility, 
though in a quiet, eastern way. The rum and water were pro- 
duced, and a friendly glass was taken by one after the other. 
The two masters drank to each other’s success, and many a 
conventional remark was made between them on the subject of 
I sea-lions, sea-elephants, and the modes of capturing such ani- 
i mals. Even Watson, semi-deserter as he was, was shaken cor- 
dially by the hand, and his questionable conduct overlooked. 
The ocean has many of the aspects of eternity, and often dis- 
: poses mariners to regard their fellow-creatures with an expan- 


138 


THE SEA LIONS. 


siveness of feeling suited to their common situations. Its vast- 
ness reminds them of the time that has neither beginning nor 
end ; its ceaseless movement, of the never-tiring impulses of 
human passions ; and its accidents and dangers, of the Provi- 
dence which protects all alike, and which alone prevents our 
being abandoned to the dominion of chance. 

Roswell Gardiner was a kind-hearted man, moreover, and 
was inclined to judge his fellows leniently. Thus it was that 
his “ good evening” at parting, to Watson, was just as frank 
and sincere as that he bestowed on Captain Daggett himself. 


THE SEA LIONS. 


139 


CHAPTER IX. 

“ Eoll on, thou deep and dark blue ocean— roll ! 

Ten thousand fleets sweep over thee in vain ; 

Man marks the earth with ruin — his control 
Stops with the shore; — upon the watery plain 
The wrecks are all thy deeds, nor doth remain 
A shadow of man’s ravage, save his own. 

When for a moment, like a drop of rain. 

He sinks into thy depths with bubbling groan. 

Without a grave, unknell’d, uncofiin’d, and unknown.” 

Byeon. 

That evening the sun set in clouds, though the eastern 
horizon was comparatively clear. There was, however, an un- 
natural outline to objects, by which their dimensions were 
increased, and in some degree rendered indefinite. We do not 
know the reason why the wind at east should produce these 
phenomena, nor do we remember ever to have met with any 
attempt at a solution ; but of the fact, we are certain, by years 
of observation. In what is called “ easterly weather,” objects 
are seen through the medium of a refraction that is entirely 
unknown in a clear northwester ; the crests of the seas emit a 
luminous light that is far more apparent than at other times ; 
and the face of the ocean, at midnight, often wears the aspect 
of a cloudy day. The nerves, too, answer to this power of the 
eastern winds. We have a barometer within that can tell when 
the wind is east without looking abroad, and one that never 
errs. It is true that allusions are often made to these peculi- 
arities, but where are we to look for the explanation ? On the 
coast of America the sea-breeze * comes from the rising sun, 
while on that of Europe it blows from the land ; but no differ- 
ence in these signs of its influence could we ever discover on 
account of this marked distinction. 


140 


THE SEA LIONS. 


Roswell Gardiner found the scene greatly changed when he 
came on deck next morning. The storm, which had been 
brewing so long, had come at last, and the wind was blowing 
a little gale from the southeast. The quarter from which the 
air came had compelled the officer of the watch to haul up on 
the larboard tack, or with the schooner’s head to the southward 
and westward ; a course that might do for a few days, provided 
it did not blow too heavily. The other tack would not have 
cleared the shoals, which stretched away to a considerable dis- 
tance to the eastward. Hazard had got in his flying-jib, and 
had taken the bonnets off his foresail and jib, to prevent the 
craft burying. He had also single-reefed his mainsail and fore- 
topsail. The Sea Lion of the Vineyard imitated each move- 
ment, and was brought down precisely to the same canvas as 
her consort, and on the same tack. At that moment the two 
vessels were not a cable’s length asunder, the Oyster Ponders 
being slightly to leeward. Their schooner, however, had a tri- 
fling advantage in sailing when it blew fresh and the water was 
rough ; which advantage was now making itself apparent, as 
the two craft struggled ahead through the troubled element. 

“ I wish we were two hundred miles to the eastward,” ob- 
served the young master to his first officer, as soon as his eye 
had taken in the whole view. “ I am afraid we shall get 
jammed in on Cape Hatteras. That place is always in the way 
with the wind at southeast and a vessel going to the southward. 
We are likely to have a dirty time of it, Mr. Hazard.” 

“ Ay, ay, sir, dirty enough,” was the careless answer. “ I’ve 
known them that would go back and anchor in Fort Pond 
Bay, or even in Gardiner’s, until this southeaster has blown 
itself out.” 

“ I couldn’t think of that ! We are a hundred miles south- 
east of Montauk, and if I run the craft into any place, it shall 
be into Charleston, or some of the islands along that coast. Be- 
sides, we can always ware off the land, and place ourselves a 
day’s run further to the southward, and we can then give the 


THE SEA LIONS. 


141 


shoals a wide berth on the other tack. If we were in the bight 
of the coast between Long Island and Jersey, ’t would be another 
matter ; but, out here, where we are, I should be ashamed to 
look the deacon in the face, if I didn’t hold on.” 

“ I only made the remark. Captain Gar’ner, by way of saying 
something. As for getting to the southward, close in with our 
own coast, I don’t know that it will be of much use to a craft 
that wishes to stand so far to the eastward, since the trades 
must be met well to windward, or they had better not be met 
at all. For my part, I would as soon take my chance of 
making a passage to the Cape de Verds or their neighborhood, 
by lifting my anchor from Gardiner’s Bay, three days hence, 
as by meeting the next shift of wind down south, off Charleston 
or Tybee.” 

“ We should be only five hundred miles to windward, in the 
latter case, did the wind come from the southwest, again, as at 
this season of the year it is very likely to do. But it is of no 
consequence ; men bound where we have got to go, ought not 
to run into port every time the wind comes out foul. You 
know as well as I do, Mr. Hazard, that away down south, yon- 
der, a fellow thinks a gale of wind is a relief, provided it brings 
clear water with it. I would rather run a week among islands, 
than a single day among icebergs. One knows where to find 
land, for that never moves; but your mountains that float 
about, are here to-day, and there to-morrow.” 

“Quite true, sir,” returned Hazard; “and men that take 
their lays in sealers, are not to expect any thing but squalls. 
I’m ready to hold on as long as our neighbor yonder : he 
seems to be trimming down to it, as if in raal earnest to get 
ahead.” 

This was true enough. The Sea Lion of the Vineyard was 
doing her best, all this time ; and though unable to keep her 
station on her consort’s weather-bow, where she had been most 
of the morning, she was dropped so very slowly as to render 
the change nearly imperceptible. Now, it was, that the officers 


142 


THE SEA LIONS. 


and crews of these two craft watched their “ behavior,” as it is 
technically termed, with the closest vigilance and deepest inter- 
est. Those in the Oyster Pond vessel regarded the movements 
of their consort, much as a belle in a ball-room observes the 
effect produced by the sister belles around her ; or a rival 
physician notes the progress of an operation that is to add new 
laurels, or to cause old ones to wither. Now, the lurch was 
commented on ; then, the pitch was thought to be too heavy ; 
and Green was soon of opinion that their competitor was not as 
easy on her spars as their own schooner. In short, every com- 
parison that experience, jealousy, or skill could suggest, was 
freely made ; and somewhat as a matter of course, in favor of 
their own vessel. That which was done on board the Sea Lion 
of Oyster Pond, was very freely emulated by those on board 
her namesake of the Vineyard. They made their comparisons, 
and formed their conclusions, with the same deference to self- 
esteem, and the same submission to hope, as had been apparent 
among their competitors. It would seem to be a law of nature 
that men should thus flatter themselves, and perceive the mote 
in the eye of their neighbor, while the beam in their own 
escapes. 

Had there been an impartial judge present, he might have 
difiered from both sets of critics. Such a person would have 
seen that one of these schooners excelled in this quality, while 
the other had an equal advantage in another. In this way, by 
running through the list of properties that are desirable in a 
ship, he would, most probably, have come to the conclusion 
that there was not much to choose between the two vessels ; 
but, that each had been constructed with an intelligent regard 
to the particular’ service in which she was about be employed, 
and both were handled by men who knew perfectly well how 
to take care of craft of that descriptiou. 

The wind gradually increased in strength, and sail was short- 
ened in the schooners, until each was finally brought down to 
a dose-reefed foresail. This would have been heaving the 


THE SEA LIONS. 


143 


vessels to, had they not been kept a little off, in order to force 
them through the water. To lie-to, in perfection, some after- 
sail might have been required ; but neither master saw a neces- 
sity, as yet, of remaining stationary. It was thought better to 
wade along some two knots, than to be pitching and lurching 
with nothing but a drift, or leeward set. In this, both masters 
were probably right, and found their vessels farther to wind- 
ward in the end, than if they had endeavored to hold their 
own, by lying-to. The great difficulty they had to contend 
with, in keeping a little off, was the danger of seas coming on 
board ; but, as yet, the ocean was not sufficiently aroused to 
make this very hazardous, £^nd both schooners, having no real 
cargoes, were light and buoyant, and floated dry. Had they 
encountered the sea there was, with full freights in their holds, 
it might have been imprudent to expose them even to this re- 
mote chance of having their decks swept. Water comes 
aboard of small vessels, almost without an exception, in head 
winds and seas ; though the contrivances of modern naval 
architecture have provided defences that make merchant ves- 
sels, now, infinitely more comfortable, in this respect, than they 
were at the period of which we are writing. 

At the end of three days, Roswell Gardinesr supposed himself 
to be about the latitude of Cape Henry, and some thirty or 
forty leagues from land, It was much easier to compute 
the last, than the first of these material facts. Of course, he 
had no observations. The sun had not been visible since the 
storm commenced, and nearly half tfie time, during the last 
day, th§ two vessels were shut in from one another, by mists 
and a small rain. It blew more in squalls than it had done, 
and the relative positions of the schooners were more or less 
affected by the circumstance, Sometimes, one would be to 
windward, and ahead ; then, the other would obtain a similar 
advantage. Once or twice they seemed about to separate, the 
distance between them getting to be so considerable, as appa- 
rently to render it impossible to keep in company ; then the 


144 


THE SEA LIONS. 


craft would change places, by a slow process, passing quite near 
to each othei’ again. No one could tell, at the moment, pre- 
cisely why these variations occurred ; though the reasons, gen- 
erally, were well understood by all on board them. Squalls, 
careless steering, currents, eddies, and all the accidents of the 
ocean, contribute to create these vacillating movements, which 
will often cause two vessels of equal speed, and under the same 
canvas, to seem to be of very difterent qualities. In the nights, 
the changes were greatest, often placing the schooners leagues 
asunder, and seemingly separating them altogether. But, Ros- 
well Gardiner became satisfied that Captain Daggett stuck by 
him intentionally ; for on all such occasions if his schooner 
happened to be out of the way, he managed to close again, 
ere the danger of separating became too great to be over- 
come. 

Our mariners judged of their distance from the land, by 
means of the lead. If the American coast is wanting in the 
sublime and picturesque, and every traveller must admit its 
defects in both, it has the essential advantage of graduated 
soundings. So regular is the shoaling of the water, and so 
studiously have the fathoms been laid down, that a cautious 
navigator can always feel his way in to the coast, and never 
need place his vessel on the beach, as is so often done, without 
at least knowing that he was about to do so. Men become ad- 
venturous by often-repeated success ; and the struggles of com- 
petition, the go-aliead-ism of the national character, and the 
trouble it gives to sound in deep water, all contribute to cast 
away the reckless and dashing navigator, on this as well as on 
other coasts, and this to his own great surprise ; but, whenever 
such a thing does happen, unless in cases of stress of weather, 
the reader may rest assured it is because those who have had 
charge of the stranded vessel have neglected to sound. The 
milestones on a highway do not more accurately note the dis- 
tances, than does the lead on nearly the whole of the American 
coast. Thus Roswell Gardiner judged himself to be about 


THE SEA LIONS. 


145 


thirty-two or three marine leagues from the land, on the even- 
ing of the third day of that gale of wind. He placed the 
schooner .in the latitude of Cape Henry on less certain data, 
though that was the latitude in which he supposed her to be, 
by dead reckoning. 

“ I wish I knew where Daggett makes himself out,” said the 
young master, just as the day closed on a most stormy and 
dirty-looking night. “ I don’t half like the appearance of the 
weather ; but, I do not wish to ware off the land, with that fel- 
low ahead and nearer to the danger, if there be any, than we 
are ourselves.” 

Here Roswell Gardiner manifested a weakness that lies at 
the bottom of half our blunders. He did not like to be out- 
done by a competitor, even in his mistakes. If the Sea Lion 
of Holmes’ Hole could hold on, on that tack, why might not 
the Sea Lion of Oyster Pond do the same ? It is by this pro- 
cess of human vanity that men sustain each other in wrong, 
and folly obtains the sanction of numbers, if not that of reason. 
In this practice we see one of the causes of the masses becom- 
ing misled, and this seldom happens without their becoming 
oppressive. 

Roswell Gardiner, however, did not neglect the lead. The 
schooner had merely to luff close to the wind, and they were in 
a proper state to sound. This they did twice during that 
night, and with a very sensible diminution in the depth of the 
water. It was evident that the schooner was getting pretty 
close in on the coast, the wind coming out nearly at south, in 
squalls. Her commander held on, for he thought there were 
indications of a change, and he still did not like to ware so long 
as his rival of the Vineyard kept on the larboard tack. In this 
way, each encouraging the other in recklessness, did these two 
craft run nearly into the lion’s jaw, as it might be ; for, wLen 
the day reappeared, the wind veered round to the eastward, a 
little northerly, bringing the craft directly on a lee-shore, blow- 
ing at the time so heavily as to render a foresail reefed down 

7 


146 


THE SEA LIONS. 


to a mere rag, more canvas than the little vessels could well 
hear. As the day returned, and the drizzle cleared oft a little, 
land was seen to leeward, stretching slightly to seaward, both 
ahead and astern ! On consulting his charts, and after getting 
a pretty good look at the coast from aloft, Roswell Gardiner be- 
came satisfied that he was off Currituck, which placed him 
near six degrees to the southward of his port of departure, and 
about four to the westward. Our young man now deeply felt 
that a foolish rivalry had led him into an error, and he re- 
gretted that he had not wore the previous evening, when he 
might have had an offing that would have enabled him to 
stand in either direction, clearing the land. As things were, he 
was not by any means certain of the course he ought to pursue. 

Little did Gardiner imagine that the reason why Daggett 
had thus stood on, was solely the wish to keep him company ; 
for that person, in consequence of Gardiner’s running so close in 
towards the coast, had taken up the notion that the Sea Lion 
of Oyster Pond meant to pass through the West Indies, visiting 
the key, which was thought to contain treasure, and of which 
he had some accounts that had aroused all his thirst for gold, 
without giving him the clew necessary to obtain it. Thus it 
was that a mistaken watchfulness on one side, and a mistaken 
pride on the other, had brought these two vessels into as dan- 
gerous a position as could have been obtained for them by a 
direct attempt to place them in extreme jeopardy. 

About ten, the gale was at its height, the wind still hanging 
at east, a little northerly. In the course of the morning, the 
officers on board both schooners, profiting by lulls and clear 
moments, had got so many views of the land from aloft, as to 
be fully aware of their respective situations. All thoughts of 
competition and watchfulness had now vanished. Each vessel 
was managed with a reference solely to her safety ; and, as 
might have been foreseen when true seamen handled both, 
they had recourse to the same expedients to save themselves. 
The mainsails of both crafts were set, balance-reefed, and the 




THE SEA LIONS. 


147 


liiills were pressed up against the wind and sea, while they were 
driven ahead Avith increased momentum. 

“ That mainmast springs like a Avhalebone Avhip-handle, sir,” 
said Hazard, when this new experiment had been tried some 
ten minutes or more. “ She jumps from one sea to another, 
like a frog in a hurry to hop into a puddle !” 

“ She must stand it, or go ashore,” answered Gardiner, coolly, 
though in secret he was deeply concerned. “Did Deacon 
Pratt forgive me, should Ave lose the schooner, I never could 
forgive myself !” 

“ Should Ave lose the schooner. Captain Gar’ner, feAV of us 
would escape drowning, to feel remorse or joy. Look at that 
coast, sir — it is clear now, and a body can see a good bit of it 
— never did I put eyes upon a less promising land-fall, for 
strangers to make.” 

Roswell Gardiner did look as desired, and he fully agreed 
Avith Hazard in opinion. Ahead and astern the land trended to 
seaward, placing the schooners in a curve of the coast, or Avhat 
seamen term a bight, rendering it quite impossible for the ves- 
sels to lay out past either of the headlands in sight. The whole 
coast Avas Ioav, and endless lines of breakers Avere visible along 
it, flashing up with luminous crests that left no doubt of their 
character, or of the dangers that they so plainly denoted. At 
times, columns of water shot up into the air like enormous jets, 
and the spray was carried inland for miles. Then it Avas that 
gloom gathered around the broAvs of the seamen, avIio fully 
comprehended the nature of the danger that was so plainly in- 
dicated. The green hands Avere the least concerned, “ knowing 
nothing and fearing nothing,” as the older seamen are apt to 
express their sense of this indifference on the part of the boys 
and landsmen. 

According to the calculations of those on board the Sea 
Lion of Oyster Pond, they had about two miles of drift before 
they should be in the breakers. They were on the best tack, 
to all appearances, and that was the old one, or the same leg 


148 


THE SEA LIONS. 


that had carried them into the bight. To ware now, indeed, 
would be a very hazardous step, since every inch of loom was 
of importance. Gardiner’s secret hope was that they might 
find the inlet that led into Currituck, which was then open, 
though we believe it has since been closed, in whole or in part, 
by the sands. This often happens on the American coast, very 
tolerable passages existing this year for vessels of an easy 
draught, that shall be absolutely shut up, and be converted 
into visible beach, a few years later. The waters wdthin will 
then gain head, and break out, cutting themselves a channel, 
that remains open until a succession of gales drives in the sauds 
upon them from the outside once more. 

Gardiner well knew he was on the most dangerous part of 
the whole American coast, in one sense at least. The capacious 
sounds that spread themselves within the long beaches of sand 
were almost as difficult of navigation as any shoals to the 
northward ; yet would he gladly have been in one in prefer- 
ence to clawing off breakers on their outside. As between the 
two schooners, the Vineyard-men had rather the best of it, 
being near a cable’s length to windward, and so much farther 
removed from destruction. The difference, however, was of no 
great account in the event of the gale continuing, escape being 
utterly impossible for either in that case. So critical was the 
situation of both craft becoming, indeed, that neither could 
now afford to yield a single fathom of the ground she held. 

All eyes were soon looking for the inlet, it having been de- 
termined to keep the Sea Lion of Oyster Pond away for it, 
should it appear to leeward, under circumstances that would al- 
low of her reaching it. The line of breakers was now very dis- 
tinctly visible, and each minute did it not only appear to be, 
but it was in fact nearer and nearer. Anchors were cleared 
away, and ranges of cable overhauled, anchoring being an ex- 
pedient that a seaman felt bound to resort to, previously to 
going ashore, though it would be with very little hope of 
ground-tackles holding. 


THE SEA LIONS. 


149 


The schooner had been described by Hazard as “jumping” 
into the sea. This expression is not a bad one, as aj^plied to 
small vessels in short seas, and it 'svas particularly apt on this 
occasion. Although constructed with great care forward as to 
buoyancy, this vessel made plunges into the waves she met that 
nearly buried her; and, once or twice, the shocks w^ere so 
great, that those on board her could with difficulty persuade 
themselves they had not struck the bottom. The lead, never- 
theless, still gave water sufficient, though it was shoaling fast, 
and with a most ominous regularity. Such was the actual 
state of things when the schooner made one of her mad plunges, 
and was met by a force that seemed to check her forward 
movement as effectually as if she had hit a rock. The main- 
mast was a good spar in some respects, but it wanted wood. 
An inch or two more in diameter might have saved it ; but the 
deacon had been induced to buy it to save his money, though 
remonstrated with at the time. This spar now snapped in two, 
a few feet from the deck, and falling to leeward, it dragged 
after it the head of the foremast, leaving the Sea Lion of Oyster 
Pond actually in a worse situation, just at that moment, than 
if she had no spars at all. 

Roswell Gardiner now appeared in a new character. Hith- 
erto he had been silent, but observant ; issuing his orders in a 
way not to excite the men, and with an air of unconcern that 
really had the effect to mislead most of them on the subject 
of his estimate of the danger they were in. Concealment, how- 
ever, was no longer possible, and our young master came out 
as active as circumstances required, foremost in every exertion, 
and issuing his orders amid the gale trumpet-tongued. His 
manner, so full of animation, resolution, and exertion, probably 
prevented despair from getting the ascendency at that import- 
ant moment. He was nobly sustained by both his mates ; 
and three or four of the older seamen now showed themselves 
men to be relied on to the last. 

The first step was to anchor. Fortunately, the foresight of 


150 


THE SEA LIONS. 


Gardiner had every thing ready for this indispensable precau- 
tion. Without anchoring, ten minutes would probably have 
carried the schooner directly down upon the breakers, leaving 
no hope for the life of any on board her, and breaking her up 
into chips. Both bowers were let go at once, and long ranges 
of cable given. The schooner was snubbed without parting 
any thing, and was immediately brought head to sea. This 
relieved her at once, and there was a moment that her people 
fancied she might ride out the gale where she was, could they 
only get clear of the wreck. Axes, hatchets, and knives were 
freely used, and Roswell Gardiner saw the mass of spars and 
rigging float clear of him with a delight he did not desire to 
conceal. As it drove to leeward, he actually cheered. A lead 
was instantly dropped alongside, in order to ascertain whether 
the anchors held. This infallible test, however, gave the mel- 
ancholy certainty that the schooner was still drifting her length 
in rather less than two minutes. 

The only hope now was that the flukes of the anchors might 
catch in better holding-ground than they had yet met with. 
The bottom was hard sand, however, which never gives a craft 
the chance that it gets from mud. By Roswell Gardiner’s 
calculations, an hour, at the most, would carry, them into the 
breakers ; possibly less time. The Sea Lion of Holmes’ Hole 
was to windward a cable’s length when this accident happened 
to her consort, and about half a mile to the southward. Just 
at that instant the breakers trended seaward, ahead of that 
schooner, rendering it indispensable for her to ware. This was 
done, bringing her head to the southward, and she now came 
struggling directly on towards her consort. The operation of 
waring had caused her to lose ground enough to bring her to 
leeward of the anchored craft, and nearer to the danger. 

Roswell Gardiner stood on his own quarter-deck, anxiously 
watching the drift of the other schooner, as she drew near in her 
labored way, struggling ahead through billows that were almost 
as white as the breakers that menaced them with destruction 


THE a E A LIONS. 


lol 


to leeward. The anchored vessel, though drifting, had so slow 
a movement that it served to mark the steady and rapid set of 
its consort towards its certain fate. At first, it seemed to Gar- 
diner that Daggett would pass just ahead of him, and he trem- 
bled for his cables, which occasionally appeared above water, 
stretched like bars of iron, for the distance of thirty or forty 
fathoms. But, the leeward set of the vessel under way was too 
fast to give her any chance of bringing this new danger on her 
consort. When a cable’s length distant, the’Sea Lion of the 
Vineyard did seem as if she might weather her consort ; but, 
ere that short space was passed over, it was found that she fell 
off so fast, by means of her drift, as to carry her fairly clear of 
her stern. The two masters, holding with one hand to some 
permanent object by which to steady themselves, and each 
pressing his tarpaulin firmly down on his head with the other, 
had a minute’s conversation when the schooners were nearest 
together. 

“ Do your anchors hold ?” demanded Daggett, who was the 
first to speak, and who put his question as if he thought his 
own fate depended on the answer. 

“ I’m sorry to say they do not. We drift our length in 
about two minutes.” 

“ That will put off the evil moment an hour or two. Look 
what a wake ive are making !” 

Sure enough, that wake was frightful ! No sooner was the 
head of the Sea Lion of the Vineyard fairly up with the stern 
of the Sea Lion of Oyster Pond, than Gardiner perceived that 
she went off diagonally, moving quite as fast to leeward as she 
went ahead. This was so very obvious that a line drawn from 
the quarter of Roswell’s craft, in a quartering direction, Avould 
almost have kept the other schooner in its range from the mo- 
ment that her bow hove heavily past. 

“ God bless you ! — God bless you !” cried Roswell Gardiner, 
waving his hand in adieu, firmly persuaded that he and the 
Vineyard master were never to meet again in this world. 


152 


'I'HE SEA LIONS. 


“ The survivors must let the fate of the lost be known. At the 
pinch, I shall out boats, if I can.” 

The other made no answer. It would have been useless, in- 
deed, to attempt it ; since no human voice had power to force 
itself up against such a gale, the distance that had now to be 
overcome. 

“ That schooner will be in the breakers in half an hour,” 
said Hazard, who stood by the side of young Gardiner. “ Why 
don’t he anchor ! No power short of Divine Providence can 
save her.” 

“ And Divine Providence will do it — thanks to Almighty 
God for his goodness !” exclaimed Koswell Gardiner. “ Did 
you perceive that, Mr. Hazard ?” 

The “ that'"' of our young mariner was, in truth, a most mo- 
mentous omen. The wind had lulled so suddenly that the 
rags of sails which the other schooner carried actually flapped. 
At first our seamen thought she had been becalmed by the 
swell ; but the change about themselves was too obvious to 
admit of any mistake. It blew terribly, again, for a minute ; 
then there was another lull. Gardiner sprang to the lead-line 
to see the effect on his own vessel. She no longer dragged 
her anchor ! 

“ God is with us !” exclaimed the young master — “ blessed 
forever be his holy name !” 

“ And that of his only and true Son,” responded a voice from 
one at his elbow. 

Notwithstanding the emergency, and the excitement pro- 
duced by this sudden change, Roswell Gardiner turned to see 
from whom this admonition had come. The oldest seaman on 
board, who was Stimson, a Kennebunk man, and who had been 
placed there to watch the schooner’s drift, had uttered these 
unusual words. The fervor with which he spoke produced 
more impression on the young master than the words them- 
selves ; the former being very unusual among seafaring men, 
though the language was not so much so. Subsequently, Gar- 


THE SEA LIONS. 


153 


diner remembered that little incident, which was not without 
its results. 

“ I do believe, sir,” cried Hazard, “ that the gale is broken. 
It often happens, on our own coast, that the southeasters chop 
round suddenly, and come out nor’westers. I hope this will 
not be too late to save the Vineyard chap, though he slips 
down upon them breakers at a most fearful rate.” 

“ There goes his foresail, again — and here is another lull !” 
rejoined Gardiner. “ I tell you, Mr. Hazard, we shall have 
a shift of wind — nothing short of which could save either of us 
from these breakers.” 

“ Which comes from the marcy of God Almighty, through 
the intercession of his only Son !” added Stimson, with the 
same fervor of manner, though he spoke in a very low tone of 
voice. 

Roswell Gardiner was again surprised, and for another mo- 
ment he forgot the gale and its dangers. Gale it was no long- 
er, however, for the lull was now decided, and the two cables 
of the schooner were distended only when the roll of the seas 
came in upon her. This wash of the waves still menaced the 
other schooner, driving her down towards the breakers, though 
less rapidly than before. 

“ Why don’t the fellow anchor !” exclaimed Gardiner, in his 
anxiety, all care for himself being now over. “Unless he 
anchor, he will yet go into the white water, and be lost !” 

“ So little does he think of that, that he is turning out 
his reefs,” answered Hazard. “ See ! there is a hand aloft 
loosening his topsail — and there goes up a whole mainsail, 
already !” 

Sure enough, Daggett appeared more disposed to trust to 
his canvas, than to his ground-tackle. In a very brief space 
of time he had his craft under whole sail, and was struggling, 
in the puffs, to claw off the land. Presently, the wind ceased 
altogether, the canvas flapping so as to be audible to Gardiner 
and his companions, at the distance of half a mile. Then, the 

1 * 


154 


THE SEA LIONS. 


cloth was distended in the opposite direction, and the wind 
came off the land. The schooner’s head was instantly brought 
to meet the seas, and the lead dropped at her side showed that 
she was moving in the right direction. These sudden changes, 
sometimes destructive, and sometimes providential as acts of 
mercy, always bring strong counter-currents of air in their train. 

“Now we shall have it !” said Hazard ; — “ a true nor’wester, 
and butt-end foremost !” 

This opinion very accurately described that which followed. 
In ten minutes it was blowing heavily, in a direction nearly 
opposite to that which had been the previous current of the 
wind. As a matter of course, the Sea Lion of the Vineyard 
drew off" the land, wallowing through the meeting billows that 
still came rolling in from the broad Atlantic ; while the Sea 
Lion of Oyster Pond tended to the new currents of air, and 
rode, as it might be, suspended between the two opposing 
forces, with little or no strain on her cables. Gardiner ex- 
pected to see his consort stand out to sea, and gain an offing ; 
but, instead of this. Captain Daggett brought his schooner 
quite near to the disabled vessel, and anchored. This act of 
neighborly kindness was too unequivocal to require explana- 
tion. It was the intention of the Vineyard men to lie by 
their consort until she was relieved from all apprehensions of 
danger. The “ butt-end” of the “ nor’wester” was too large to 
admit of intercourse until next morning, when that which had 
been a small gale had dwindled to a good, steady breeze, and 
the seas had gone down, leaving comparatively smooth water 
all along the coast. The line of white water which marked 
the breakers was there, and quite visible ; but it no longer ex- 
cited apprehension. The jury-masts on board the disabled craft 
were got up ; and what was very convenient, just at that mo- 
ment, the wreck came floating out on the ebb, so near to her 
as to enable the boats to secure all the sails and most of the 
rigging. The main-boom, too, an excellent spar, was towed 
alongside and saved. 


i 


* “ The shadow from thy brow shall melt, 

The sorrow from thy strain : 

But where thy earthly smile hath dwelt, 

Our hearts shall thirst in vain.” 

I Mbs. Hemans. 

t 

As soon as it would do to put his boats in the water, or at 
. daylight next morning, Captain Daggett came alongside of his 
consort. He was received with a seaman’s welcome, and his 
j offers of services were accepted, just as frankly as, under re- 
' versed circumstances, they would have been made. In all this 
there was a strange and characteristic admixture of neighborly 
and Christian kindness, blended with a keen regard of the 
j main chance. If the former duties are rarely neglected by the 
descendants of the Puritans, it may be said with equal truth, 
[ that the latter are never lost sight of. Speculation and profit 

^ are regarded as so many integral portions of the duty of man ; 

! and, as our kinsmen of Old England have set up an idol to 

worship, in the form of aristocracy, so do our kinsmen of New 
j England pay homage to the golden calf. In point of fact, 
Daggett had a double motive in now offering his services to 
i Gardiner : the one being the discharge of his moral obliga- 

tions, and the other a desire to remain near the Sea Lion of 
Oyster Pond, lest she sliould visit the key, of which he had 
some very intei'esting memorandums, without having enough 
to find the place unless led there by those who were better 
informed on the subject of its precise locality than he was 
himself. 

The boats of Daggett assisted in getting the wreck alongside, 

; , and in securing the sails and rigging. Then, his people aided 


156 


THE SEA LIONS. 


in fitting jury-masts ; and by noon both vessels got under way, 
and stood along the coast to the southward and westward. 
Hatteras was no longer terrible, for the wind still stood at 
northwest, and they kept in view of those very breakers which, 
only the day before, they would have given the value of both 
vessels to be certain of never seeing again. That night they 
passed the formidable cape, a spit of sand projecting far to sea- 
ward, and which is on a low beach, and not on any main land 
at all. Once around this angle in the coast, they had a lee, 
hauling up to the southwest. With the wind abeam, they 
stood on the rest of the day, picking up a pilot. The next 
night they doubled Cape Look Out, a very good landmark for 
those going north to keep in view, as a reminder of the stormy 
and sunken Hatteras, and arrived off Beaufort harbor just as 
the sun was rising the succeeding morning. By this time the 
northwester was done, and both schooners entered Beaufort, 
with a light southerly breeze, there being just water enough to 
receive them. This was the only place on all that coast into 
wLich it would have answered their purposes to go ; and it was, 
perhaps, the very port of all others that was best suited to supply 
the present wants of Roswell Gardiner. Pine timber, and spars 
of all sorts, abounded in that region ; and the “ Banker,” who 
acted as pilot, told our young master that he could get the 
very sticks he needed, in one hour’s time after entering the 
haven. This term of “ Banker” applies to a scattering popula- 
tion of wreckers and fishermen, who dwell on the long, low, 
narrow beaches which extend along the whole of this part of 
the coast, reaching from Cape Fear to near Cape Henry, a dis- 
tance of some hundred and fifty miles. Within lie the capa- 
cious sounds already mentioned, including Albemarle and 
Pamlico, and which form the watery portals to the sea-shores 
of all North Carolina. Well is the last headland of that 
region, but one which the schooners did not double, named 
Cape Fear. It is the commencement, on that side, of the dan- 
gerous part of the coast, and puts the mariner on his guard 


THE SEA LIONS. 


157 


by its very appellation, admonishing him to bo cautious and 
prudent. 

Off the entrance of Beaufort, a very perfect and beautiful 
haven, if it had a greater depth of water, the schooners hove- 
to, in waiting for the tide to rise a little ; and Roswell Gardi- 
ner took that occasion to go on board the sister craft, and 
express to Daggett a sense of the obligations he felt for the 
services the other had rendered. 

“ Of course you will not think of going in. Captain Dag- 
gett,” continued our hero, in dwelling on the subject, “ after 
having put yourself, already, to so much unnecessary trouble. 
If I find the spars the Banker talks of, I shall be out again in 
eight-and-forty hours, and we may meet, some months hence, 
off Cape Horn.” 

“ I’ll tell you what it is, Gar’ner,” returned the Vineyard 
mariner, pushing the rum towards his brother master, “ I’m a 
plain sort of a fellow, and don’t make much talk when I do a 
thing, but I like good-fellowship. We came near going, both 
of us — nearer than I ever was before, and escape wrackin’ ; 
but escape we did — and when men have gone through such 
trials in company, I don’t like the notion of casting off till I 
see you all a-tanto ag’in,' and with as many legs and arms as I 
carry myself. That’s just my feelin’, Gar’ner, and I won’t say 
whether it’s a right feelin’ or not — help yourself.” 

“ It’s a right feeling, as between you and me. Captain Dag- 
gett, as I can answer for. My heart tells me you are right, and 
I thank you from it, for these marks of friendship. But you 
must not forget there are such persons as owners in this world. 
I shall have trouble enough on my hands with my owner, and 
I do not wish you to have trouble with yours. Here is a nice 
little breeze to take you out to sea again ; and by passing to 
the southward of Bermuda, you can make a short cut, and hit 
the trades far enough to windward to answer all your pur- 
poses.” 

“ Thankee, thankee, Gar’ner — I know the road, and can find 


158 


THE SEA LIONS. 


the places I’m going to, though no great navigator. Now, I 
never took a lunar in my life, and can’t do any thing with a 
chronometer ; but as for finding the way between Martha’s 
Vineyard and Cape Horn, I’ll turn my back on no shipmaster 
living.” 

“ I’m afraid. Captain Daggett, that we have both of us 
turned our backs on our true course, when we suffered our- 
selves to get jammed away down here, on Hatteras. Why, I 
never saw the place before, and never wish to see it again ! 
It’s as much out of the track of a whaler or sealer, as Jupiter is 
out of the track of Mars or Venus.” 

“ Oh, there go your limars, about which I know nothing and 
care nothing. I tell you, Gar’ner, a man with a good judg- 
ment, can just as well jog about the ’arth, without any ac- 
quaintance with lunars, as he can with. Then, your sealer 
hasn’t half as much need of your academy-sort of navigation as 
another man. More than half of our calling is luck ; and all 
the best sealing stations I ever heard of, have been blundered 
on by some chap who has lost his way. I despise lunars, if the 
truth must be said ; yet I like to go straight to my port of 
destination. Take a little sugar with your rum-and-water — we 
Vineyard folks like sweetening.” 

“ For which purpose, or that of going straight to your port. 
Captain Daggett, you’ve come down here, on your way to the 
Pacific ; or, about five hundred miles out of your way !” 

“I came here for company, Gar’ner. We hadn’t much 
choice, you must allow, for we couldn’t have weathered the 
shoals on the other tack. I see no great harm in our positions, 
if you hadn’t got dismasted. That’s a two or three hundred 
dollar job, and may make your owner grumble a little, but it’s 
no killing matter. I’ll stick by you, and you can tell the dea- 
con as much in the letter you’ll write him, when we get in.” 

“ It seems like doing injustice to your owners, as well as to 
my own, keeping you here. Captain Daggett,” returned Ros- 
well, innocently, for he had not the smallest suspicion of the 


THE SEA LIONS. 


159 


true motive of all this apparent good-fellowship, “ and I really 
wish you would now quit me.” 

“ I couldn’t think of it, Gar’ner. ’Twould make an awful 
talk on the Vineyard, was I to do any thing of the sort. 
‘ Stick by your consort,’ is an eleventh commandment in our 
island.” 

“ Which is the reason why there ^-e so many old maids 
there, I suppose, Daggett,” cried Roswell Gardiner, laughing. 
“ Well, I thank you for your kindness, and will endeavor to re- 
member it when you may have occasion for some return. 
But, the tide must be making, and we ought to lose no time 
unnecessarily. Here’s a lucky voyage to us both. Captain 
Daggett, and a happy return to sweethearts and wives.” 

Daggett tossed off his glass to this toast, and the two then 
went on deck. Roswell Gardiner thought that a kinder ship’s 
company never sailed together than this of the Sea Lion of 
Holmes’ Hole ; for notwithstanding the interest of every man 
on board depended on the returns of their own voyage, each 
and all appeared willing to stick by him and his craft so long 
as there was a possibility of being of any service. 

Whalers and sealers do not ship their crews for wages in 
money, as is done with most vessels. So much depends on the 
exertions of the people in these voyages, that it is the practice 
to give every man a direct interest in the result. Conse- 
quently, all on board engage for a compensation to be derived 
from a division of the return cargo. The terms on which a 
party engages are called his “ lay and he gets so many parts 
of a hundred, according to station, experience, and qualifica- 
tions. The owner is paid for his risk and expenses in the same 
way, the vessel and outfits usually taking about two-thirds of 
the whole returns, while the officers and crew get the other. 
These conditions vary a little, as the proceeds of whaling and 
sealing rise or fall in the market, and also in reference to the 
cost of equipments. It follows that Captain Daggett and 
his crew were actually putting their hands into their own 


IGO 


THE SEA LIONS. 


pockets, when they lost time in remaining with the crippled 
craft. This Gardiner knew, and it caused him to appreciate 
their kindness at a rate so much higher than he might other- 
wise have done. 

At first sight it might seem that all this unusual kindness 
was superfluous and of no avail. This, however, was not really 
the case, since the crew of the second schooner was of much 
real service in forwarding the equipment of the disabled vessel. 
Beaufort has an excellent harbor for vessels of a light draught 
of water like our two sealers ; but the town is insignificant, 
and extra laborers, especially those of an intelligence suited to 
such work, very difficult to be had. At the bottom, therefore, 
Roswell Gardiner found his friendly assistants of much real ad- 
vantage, the two crews pushing the work before them with as 
much rapidity as suited even a seaman’s impatience. Aided 
by the crew of his consort, Gardiner got on fast with his re- 
pairs, and on the afternoon of the second day after he had en- 
tered Beaufort, he was ready to sail once more ; his schooner 
probably in a better state of service than the day she left Oys- 
ter Pond. 

The lightning-line did not exist at the period of which we 
are writing. It is our good fortune to be an intimate acquaint- 
ance of the distinguished citizen who has bestowed this great 
gift on his own eountry — one that will transmit his name to 
posterity, side by side with that of Fulton. In his case, as in 
that of the last-named inventor, attempts have been made to 
rob him equally of the honors and the profits of his very in- 
genious invention. As respects the last, we hold that it is 
every hour becoming less and less possible for any American to 
maintain his rights against numbers. There is no question that 
the government of this great republic was intended to be one 
of well-eonsidered and upright principles, in which certain ques- 
tions are to be referred periodically to majorities, as the wisest 
and most natural, as well as the most just mode of disposing of 
them. Such a government, well-administered, and with an 


THE SEA LIONS. 


161 


accurate observance of its governing principles, would probably 
be the best that human inlirinity will allow men to administer ; 
but when the capital mistake is made of supposing that mere 
numbers are to control all things, regardless of those great fun- 
damental laws that the state has adopted for its own restraint, 
it may be questioned if so loose, and capricious, and selfish a 
system, is not in great danger of becomiug the very worst 
scheme of polity that cupidity ever set in motion. The ten- 
dency — not the spirit of the institutions, the two things being 
the very antipodes of each other, though common minds are so 
apt to confound them — the tendency of the institutions of this 
country, in flagrant opposition to their spirit or intentions^ 
which were devised expressly to restrain the disposition of 
men to innovate, is out of all question to foster this great abuse, 
and to place numbers above principles, even when the princi- 
ples were solemnly adopted expressly to bring numbers under 
the control of a sound fundamental law. This influence of 
numbers, this dire mistake of the very nature of liberty, by 
placing men and their passions above those great laws of right 
which come direct from God himself, is increasing in force, and 
threatens consequences which may set at naught all the well- 
devised schemes of the last generation for the security of the 
state, and the happiness of that very people, who can never 
know either security or even peace, until they learn to submit 
themselves, without a thought of resistance, to those great rules 
of right which in truth form the spirit of their institutions, 
and which are only too often in opposition to their own im- 
pulses and motives. 

We pretend to no knowledge on the subject of the dates of 
S discoveries in the arts and sciences, but well do we remember 
I the earnestness and single-minded devotion to a laudable pur- 
I pose, with which our worthy friend first communicated to us 
; his ideas on the subject of using the electric spark by way of a 
telegraph. It was in Paris, and during the winter of 1831-2, 
i and the succeeding spring, a time when we were daily to- 


1G2 


THE SEA LIONS.* 


gether ; and we have a satisfaction in recording this date, that 
others may prove better claims if they can. Had Morse set 
his great invention, on foot thirty years earlier, Roswell Gardi- 
ner might have communicated with his owner, and got a reply, 
ere he again sailed, considerable as was the distance between 
them. As things then were, he was fain to be content with 
writing a letter, which was put into the deacon’s hand about a 
week after it was written, by his niece, on his own return from 
a short journey to Southold, whither he had been to settle and 
discharge a tardy claim against his schooner. 

“ Here is a letter for you, uncle,” said Mary Pratt, struggling 
to command her feelings, though she blushed with the con- 
sciousness of her own interest in the missive. “ It came from 
the Harbor, by some mistake ; Baiting Joe bringing it across 
just after you left home.” 

“ A letter with a post-mark — ‘ Beaufort, N. C.’ — Who in na- 
tur’ can this letter be from ? — What a postage, too, to charge 
on a letter ! Fifty cents !” 

“ That is a proof, sir, that Beaufort must be a long way otF. 
Besides, the letter is double. I think the handwriting is Ros- 
well’s.” 

Had the niece fired a six-pounder under her uncle’s ears, he 
would scarcely have been more startled. He even turned pale, 
and instead of breaking the wafer as he had been about to do, 
he actually shrunk from performing the act, like one afraid to 
proceed. 

“ What can this mean ?” said the deacon, taking a moment 
to recover his voice. “ Gar’ner’s handwriting ! So it is, I de- 
clare. If that imprudent young man has lost my schooner. I’ll 
never forgive him in this world, whatever a body may be/orcec? 
to do in the next !” 

“ It is not necessary to believe any thing as bad as that, 
uncle. Letters are often written at sea, and sent in by vessels 
that are met. I dare say Roswell has done just this.” 

“ Not he — not he — the careless fellow ! He has lost that 


THE SEA LIONS. 


163 


schooner, and all my property is in the hands of wrackers, who 
are worse than so many rats in a larder. ‘ Beaufort, N. C.’ 
Yes, that must be one of the Bahamas, and N. C. stands for 
New Providence — Ah’s me ! Ah’s me !” 

“ But N. C. does not stand for New Providence — it would be 
N. P. in that case, uncle.” 

“N. C. or N. P., they sound so dreadfully alike that I don’t 
know what to think ! Take the letter and open it. Oh ! how 
big it is ! — there must be a protest, or some other costly thing 
inclosed.” 

Mary did take the letter, and she opened it, though with 
trembling hands. The inclosure soon appeared, and the first 
glance of her eye told her it was a letter addressed to herself. 

“ What is it, Mary ? What is it, my child ? Do not be 
afraid to tell me,” said the deacon, in a low, faltering voice. 
“ I hope I know how to meet misfortunes with Christian forti- 
tude. Has it one of them awful-looking seals that Notary 
Publics use when they want money ?” 

Mary blushed rosy-red, and she appeared very charming at 
that moment, though as resolute as ever to give her hand only 
to a youth whose “ God should be her God.” 

“ It is a letter to me, sir — nothing else, I do assure you, 
uncle. Roswell often writes to me, as you know ; he has sent 
one of his letters inclosed in this to you.” 

“ Yes, yes — I’m glad it’s no worse. Well, where was his 
letter written ? Does he mention the latitude and longitude ? 
It will be some comfort to learn that he was well to the south- 
ward and eastward.” 

Mary’s color disappeared, and a paleness came over her face, 
as she ran through the few first lines of the letter. Then she 
summoned all her resolution, and succeeded in telling her uncle 
the facts. 

“ A misfortune has befallen poor Roswell,” she said, her 
voice trembling with emotion, “ though it does not seem to be 
half as bad as it might have been. The letter is written at 


164 


THE SEA LIONS. 


Beaufort, in North Carolina, where the schooner has put in to 
get new masts, having lost those with which she sailed in a 
gale of wind off Cape Hatteras.” 

“ Hatteras !” interrupted the deacon, groaning — “ what in 
natur’ had my vessel to do down there ?” 

“ I am sure I don’t know, sir — but I had better read you the 
contents of Roswell’s letter, and then you will hear the whole 
story.” 

Mary now proceeded to read aloud. Gardiner gave a frank, 
explicit account of all that had happened since he parted with 
his owner, concealing nothing, and not attempting even to ex- 
tenuate his fault. Of the Sea Lion of Holmes’ Hole he wrote 
at large, giving it as his opinion that Captain Daggett really 
possessed some clew — what, he did not know — to the existence 
of the sealing islands, though he rather thought that he was 
not very accurately informed of their precise position. As re- 
spected the key, Roswell was silent, for it did not at all occur 
to him that Daggett knew any thing of that part of his own 
mission. In consequence of this opinion, not the least suspi- 
cion of the motive of the Vineyard-man, in sticking by him, 
presented itself to Gardiner’s mind ; and nothing on the subject 
was communicated in the letter. On the contrary, our young 
master was quite eloquent in expressing his gratitude to Dag- 
gett and his crew, for the assistance they had volunteered, and 
without which he could not have been ready to go to sea again 
in less than a week. As it was, the letter was partly written 
as the schooner repassed the bar, and was sent ashore by 
the pilot to be mailed. This fact was stated in full, in a 
postscript. 

“ Volunteered !” groaned the deacon aloud. “ As if a man 
ever volunteers to work without his pay !” 

“Roswell tells us that Captain Daggett did, uncle,” an- 
swered Mary, “and that it is understood between them he 
is to make no charge for his going into Beaufort, or for 
any thing he did while there. Vessels often help each other 


THE SEA LIONS. 


165 


in this kind way, I should hope, for the sake of Christian 
charity, sir.” 

“ Not without salvage, not without salvage ! Charity is a 
good thing, and it is our duty to exercise it on all occasions ; 
but salvage conies into charity all the same as into any other 
interest. This schooner will ruin me, I fear, and leave me in 
my old age to be supported by the town !” 

“ That can hardly happen, uncle, since you owe nothing 
for her, and have your farms, and all your other property 
unencumbered. It is not easy to see how the schooner can 
ruin you.” 

“ Yes, I am undone,” returned the deacon, beating the floor 
with his foot, in nervous agitation — “ as much undone as ever 
Roswell Gar’ner’s father was ; and he might have been the 
richest man between Oyster Pond and Riverhead, had he kept 
out of the way of speculation. I remember him much better 
off than I am myself, and he died but little more than a 
beggar. Yes, yes ; I see how it is ; this schooner has un- 
done me !” 

“ But Roswell sends an account of all that he has paid, and 
draws a bill on you for its payment. The entire amount is but 
one hundred and sixteen dollars and seventy-two cents.” 

“ That’s not for salvage. The next thing will be a demand 
for salvage in behalf of the owners and crew of the Sea Lion 
of Humses’ Hull ! I know how it will be, child ! I know how 
it will be ! Gar’ner has undone me, and I shall go down into 
my grave a beggar, as his father has done already.” 

“ If such be the fact, uncle, no one but I would be the suf- 
ferer, and I will strive not to grieve over your losses. But, 
here is a paper that Roswell has inclosed in his letter to me, by 
mistake, no doubt. See, sir ; it is an acknowledgment, signed 
by Captain Daggett and all his crew, admitting that they went 
into Beaufort with Roswell out of good feeling, and allowing 
that they have no claims to salvage. Here it is, sir ; you can 
read it for yourself.” 


166 


THE SEA LIONS. 


The deacon did not only read it — he almost devoured the 
paper, which, as Mary suggested, had been inclosed in her let- 
ter by mistake. The relief produced by this document so far 
composed the uncle, that he not only read Gardiner’s letter 
himself, with a very close attention to its contents, but he ac- 
tually forgave the cost of the repairs incurred at Beaufort. 
While he was in the height of his joy at this change in the as- 
pect of things, the niece stole into her own room in order to 
read the missive she had received, by herself. 

The tears that Mary Pratt profusely shed over Roswell’s 
letter, were both sweet and bitter. The manifestations of his 
affection for her, which were manly and frank, brought tears of 
tenderness from her eyes ; while the recollection of the width 
of the chasm that separated them, had the effect to embitter 
these proofs of love. Most females would have lost the sense 
of duty which sustained our heroine in this severe trial, and, in 
accepting the man of their heart, would have trusted to time, 
and their own influence, and the mercy of Divine Providence, 
to bring about the changes they desired but Mary Pratt could 
not thus blind herself to her own high obligations. The tie of 
husband and wife she rightly regarded as the most serious of 
all the obligations we can assume, and she could not — would 
not plight her vows to any man whose “ God was not her 
God.” 

Still there was much of sweet consolation in this little- 
expected letter from Roswell. He wrote, as he always did, 
simply and naturally, and attempted no concealments. This 
was just as true of his acts, as the master of the schooner, as it 
was in his character of a suitor. To Mary he told the whole 
story of his weakness, acknowledging that a silly spirit of pride 
which would not permit him to seem to abandon a trial of the 
qualities of the two schooners, had induced him to stand on to 
the westward longer than he should otherwise have done, and 
the currents had come to assist in increasing the danger. As 
for Daggett, he supposed him to have been similarly influenced ; 


THE SEA LIONS. 


167 


though he did not withhold his expressions of gratitude foi- the 
generous manner in which that seaman had stuck to him to 
the last. 

For weary months did Maiy Pratt derive sweet consolation 
from her treasure of a letter. It was, perhaps, no more than 
human nature, or woman’s nature at least, that, in time, she got 
most to regard those passages which best answered to the 
longings of her own heart ; and that she came at last to read 
the missive, forgetful, in a degree, that it was written by one 
who had deliberately, and as a matter of faith, adopted the idea 
that the Redeemer was not, in what may be called the catho- 
lic sense of the term, the Son of God. The papers gave an ac- 
count of the arrival of the “ Twin Sea Lions,” as the article 
styled them, in the port of Beaufort, to repair damages ; and 
of their Laving soon sailed again, in company. This paragraph 
she cut out of the journal in which it met her eye, and inclosing 
it in Roswell’s last letter, there was not a day in the succeed- 
ing year in which both were not in her hand, and read for the 
hundredth time, or more. These proofs of tenderness, how- 
ever, are not to be taken as evidence of any lessening of princi- 
ple, or as signs of a disposition to let her judgment and duty 
submit to her affection. So far from this, her resolution grew 
with reflection, and her mind became more settled in a pur- 
pose that she deemed sacred, the longer she reflected on the 
subject. But her prayers in behalf of her absent lover grew 
more frequent, and much more fervent. 

In the mean time, the Twin Lions sailed. On leaving Beau- 
fort, they ran off the coast with a smart breeze from southwest, 
making a leading wind of it. There had been some variance 
of opinion between Daggett and Gardiner, touching the course 
they ought to steer. The last was for hauling up higher, and 
passing to the southward of Bermuda ; while the first contended 
for standing nearly due east, and going to the northward of 
those islands. Gardiner felt impatient to repair his blunder, 
and make the shortest cut he could ; whereas Daggett reasoned 


168 


THE SEA LIONS. 


more coolly, and took the winds into the account, keeping in 
view the main results of the voyage. Perhaps the last wished 
to keep his consort away from all the keys, until he was com- 
pelled to alter his course in a way that would leave no doubt 
of his intentions. Of one thing the last was now certain : he 
knew by a long trial that the Sea Lion of Oyster Pond could 
not very easily run away from the Sea Lion of Holmes’ Hole, 
and he was fully resolved that she should not escape from him 
in the night, or in squalls. As for Roswell Gardiner, not hav- 
ing the smallest idea of looking for his key, until he came 
north, after visiting the antarctic circle, he had no notion whaP 
ever of the reason why the other stuck to him so closely ; and, 
least of all, why he wished to keep him clear of the West In- 
dies, until ready to make a descent on his El Dorado. 

Beaufort lies about two degrees to the northward of the four 
hundred rocks, islets, and small islands, which are known as the 
Bermudas ; an advanced naval station, that belongs to a rival 
commercial power, and which is occupied by that power solely 
as a check on this republic in the event of war. Had the 
views of real statesmen prevailed in America, instead of those 
of mere politicians, the wliole energy of this republic would 
have been long since directed to the object of substituting our 
own flag for that of England, in these islands. As things are, 
there they exist ; a station for hostile fleets, a receptacle for 
prizes, and a depot for the munitions of war, as if expressly de- 
signed by nature to hold the whole American coast in com- 
mand. While little men with great names are wrangling about 
southwestern acquisitions, and northeastern boundaries, that 
are of no real moment to the growth and power of the republic, 
these islands, that ought never to be out of the mind of the 
American statesman, have not yet entered into the account at 
all ; a certain proof how little the minds that do, or ought 
to, influence events, are really up to the work they have 
been delegated to perform. Military expeditions have twice 
been sent from this country to Canada, when both the Canadas 


THE SEA LIONS. 


160 


are not of one-half the importance to the true security and in- 
dependence of the country — (no nation is independent until it 
holds the control of all its greater interests in its own hands) — 
as the Bermudas. When England asked the cession of terri- 
tory undoubtedly American, because it overshadowed Quebec, 
she should have been met with this plain proposition — “ Give 
us the Bermudas, and we will exchange with you. You hold 
those islands as a check on our power, and we will hold the 
angle of Maine for a check on yours, unless you will consent 
to make a fair and mutual transfer. We will not attack you 
for the possession of the Bermudas, for we deem a just princi- 
ple even more important than such an accession ; but when 
you ask us to cede, we hold out our hands to take an equiva- 
lent in return. The policy of this nation is not to be influenced 
by saw-logs, but by these manifest, important, and ulterior in- 
terests. If you wish Maine, give us Bermuda in exchange, or 
go with your wishes ungratified.” Happily, among us, events 
are stronger than men ; and the day is not distant when the 
mere force of circumstances will compel the small-fry of diplo- 
macy to see what the real interests and dignity of the republic 
demand, in reference to this great feature of its policy. 

Roswell Gardiner and Daggett had several discussions 
touching the manner in which they ought to pass those isl- 
ands. There were about four degrees to spare between the 
trades and the Bermudas ; and the former was of opinion that 
they might pass through this opening, and make a straighter 
wake, than by going farther north. These consultations took 
place from quarter-deck to quarter-deck, as the two schooners 
ran oflf free, steering directly for the islands, as a sort of com- 
promise between the two opinions. The distance from the main 
to the Bermudas is computed at about six hundred miles, 
which gave suflScient leisure for the discussion of the subject in 
all its bearings. The conversations were amicable, and the 
weather continuing mild, and the wind standing, they were re- 
newed each afternoon, when the vessels closed, as if expressly 

8 


170 


THE SEA LIONS. 


to admit of the dialogue. In all this time, five days alto- 
gether, it was farther ascertained that the difference in sailing 
between the Twin Lions, as the sailors now began to call the 
two schooners, was barely perceptible. If any thing, it w^as 
slightly in favor of the Vineyard craft, though there yet re- 
mained many of the vicissitudes of the seas, in which to make 
the trial. While this uncertainty as to the course prevailed, 
the low land appeared directly ahead, when Daggett consented 
to pass it to the southward, keeping the cluster in sight, how- 
ever, as thev went steadily on towards the southward and east- 
ward 


i 


THE SEA LIONS. 


171 


CHAPTER XI. 

t “With glossy skin, and dripping mane, 

And reeling limbs, and reeking flank, 

' The wild steed’s sinewy nerves still strain 

j Up the repelling bank.” 

Mazkppa. 

I Roswell Gardiner felt as if lie could breathe more freely 
^ when they had run the Summers Group fairly out of sight, and 
i the last hummock had sunk into the waves of the west. He 
i' was now fairly quit of America, and hoped to see no more of it, 
until he made the well-known rock that points the way into 
that most magnificent of all the havens of the earth, the bay 
I of Rio de Janeiro. Travellers dispute whether the palm ought 
' to be given to this port, or to those of Naples and Constantino- 
i pie. Each, certainly, has its particular claims to surpassing 
' beauty, which ought to be kept in view in coming to a decis- 
ion. Seen from its outside, with its minarets, and Golden 
I Horn, and Bosphorus, Constantinople is, probably, the most 
glorious spot on earth. Ascend its mountains, and overlook 
: the gulfs of Salerno and Gaeta, as well as its own waters, the 
; Campagna Felici^ and the memorials of the past, all seen in 
! the witchery of an Italian atmosphere, and the mind becomes 
^ perfectly satisfied that nothing equal is to be found elsewhere ; 

, but enter the bay of Rio, and take the whole of the noble pan- 
orama in at a glance, and even the experienced traveller is 
' staggered with the stupendous as well as bewitching character 
I of the loveliness that meets his eye. Witchery is a charm that 
' peculiarly belongs to Italy, as all must feel who have ever been 
brought within its influence ; but it is a witchery that is more 
or less shared by all regions of low latitudes. 


172 


THE SEA LIONS. 


Our two Sea Lions met with no adventures worthy of record, 
until they got well to the southw^ard of the equator. They had 
been unusually successful in getting through the calm latitudes; 
and forty-six days from Montauk, they spoke a Sag Harbor 
whaler, homeward hound, that had come out from Rio only the 
preceding week, where she had been to dispose of her oil. By 
this ship, letters w^ere sent home ; and as Gardiner could now 
tell the deacon that he should touch at Rio even before the 
time first anticipated, he believed that he should set the old 
man’s heart at peace. A little occurrence that took place the 
very day they parted with the whaler, added to the pleasure 
this opportunity of communicating with the owner had afforded. 
As the schooners were moving on in company, about a cable’s 
length asunder. Hazard saw a sudden and extraordinary move- 
ment on board the Vineyard Lion, as the men now named that 
vessel, to distinguish her from her consort. 

“ Look out for a spout !” shouted the mate to Stimson, who 
happened to be on the foretopsail-yard at work, when this un- 
expected interruption to the quiet of the passage occurred. 
“ There is a man overboard from the other schooner, or they 
see a spout.” 

“ A spout ! a spout !” shouted Stimson, in return ; “ and a 
spalm (sperm, or spermaceti, was meant) whale, in the bargain ! 
Here he is, sir, two p’ints on our weather beam.” 

This was enough. If any one has had the misfortune to be 
in a coach drawn by four horses, when a sudden fright starts 
them off at speed, he can form a pretty accurate notion of the 
movement that now' took place on board of Deacon Pratt’s 
craft. Every one seemed to spring into activity, as if a single 
will directed a common set of muscles. Those who were be- 
low, literally “ tumbled up,” as the seamen express it, and those 
who were aloft, slid down to the deck like fiashes of lightning. 
Captain Gardiner sprang out of his cabin, seemingly at a single 
bound ; at another, he w'as in the whale-boat that Hazard was 
in the very act of lowering into the water, as the schooner 


THE SEA LIONS. 


178 


rouuded-to. Perceiving himself anticipated here, the mate 
turned to the boat on the other quarter, and was in her, and in 
the water, almost as soon as his commanding officer. 

Although neither of the schooners was thoroughly fitted for 
a whaler, each had lines, lances, harpoons, &c., in readiness in 
their quarter-boats, prepared for any turn of luck like this 
which now ofiered. The process of paddling up to whales, 
which is now so common in the American ships, was then very 
little or not at all resorted to. It is said that the animals have 
got to be so shy, in consequence of being so much pursued, 
that the old mode of approaching them will not suffice, and 
that it now requires much more care and far more art to take 
one of these creatures, than it did thirty years since. On this 
part of the subject, we merely repeat what we hear, though w^e 
think we can see an advantage in the use of the paddle that is 
altogether independent of that of the greater quiet of that 
mode of forcing a boat ahead. He that paddles looks ahead^ 
and the approach is more easily regulated, when the whole of 
the boat’s crew are apprised, by means of their own senses, of 
the actual state of things, than when they attain their ideas of 
them through the orders of an officer. The last must govern 
in all cases, but the men are prepared for them, when they 
can see what is going on, and will be more likely to act with 
promptitude and intelligence, and will be less liable to make 
mistakes. 

The four boats, two from each schooner, dropped into the 
water nearly about the same time. Daggett was at the steer- 
ing-oar of one, as was Roswell at that of another. Hazard, and 
Macy, the chief mate of the Vineyard craft, were at the steer- 
ing-oars of the two remaining boats. All pulled in the direction 
of the spot on the ocean where the spouts had been seen. It 
was the opinion of those who had been aloft, that there w'ere 
several fish ; and it was certain that they were of the most 
valuable species, or the spermaceti, one barrel of the oil of 
which was worth about as much as the oil of thi’ee of the ordi- 


\ 


174 


THE SEA LIONS. 


nary sort, or that of the right whale, supposing them all to 
yield the same quantity in number of barrels. The nature 
or species of the fish was easily enough determined by the 
spouts ; the right whale throwing up two high arched jets of 
water, while the spermaceti throws but a single, low, bushy one. 

It was not long ere the boats of the two captains came 
abreast of each other, and within speaking distance. A stern 
rivalry was now apparent in every countenance, the men pull- 
ing might and main, and without even a smile among them all. 
Every face was grave, earnest, and determined ; every arm 
strung to its utmost powers of exertion. The men rowed beau- 
tifully, being accustomed to the use of their long oars in rough 
water, and in ten minutes they were all fully a mile dead to 
windward of the two schooners. 

Few things give a more exalted idea of the courage and in- 
genuity of the human race than to see adventurers set forth, in 
a mere shell, on the troubled waters of the open ocean, to con- 
tend with and capture an animal of the size of the whale. The 
simple circumstance that the last is in its own element, while 
its assailants are compelled to approach it in such light and 
fragile conveyances, that, to the unpractised eye, it is suflScient- 
ly difficult to manage them amid the rolling waters, without 
seeking so powerful an enemy to contend with, indicates the 
perilous nature of the contest. But, little of all this did the 
crews of our four boats now think. They had before them the 
objects, or one of the objects, rather, of their adventure, and so 
long as that was the case, no other view but that of prevailing 
could rise befoi’e their eyes. 

“How is it, Gar’ner?” called out the Vineyard master, 
“ shall it be shares ? or does each schooner whale on her own 
hook ?” 

This was asked in a friendly way, and apparently with great 
indifference as to the nature of the reply, but with profound 
art. It was Daggett’s wish to establish a sort of partnership, 
which, taken in connection with the good feeling created by 


THE SEA LIONS. 


175 


the affair at Beaufort, would be very apt to lead on to further 
and more important association. Luckily for Gardiner, an idea 
crossed his mind, just as he was about to reply, which induced 
the wisest answer. It was the thought, that competition would 
be more likely to cause exertion than a partnership, and that 
the success of all would better repay them for their toils and 
risks, should each vessel act exclusively for itself. This is the 
principle that renders the present state of society more health- 
ful and advantageous than that which the friends of the differ- 
ent systems of associating, that are now so much in vogue, wish 
to substitute in its place. Individuality is an all-important feel- 
ing in the organization of human beings into communities; and 
the political economist who does not use it as his most power- 
ful auxiliary in advancing civilization, will soon see it turn 
round in its tracks, and become a dead weight ; indulging its 
self-love, by living with the minimum of exertion, instead of 
pushing his private advantage, with the maximum. 

“ I think each vessel had better work for herself and her 
owners,” answered Roswell Gardiner. 

As the schooners were in the trades, there was a regular sea 
running, and one that w^as neither very high nor much broken. 
Still, the boats w^ere lifted on it like egg-shells or bubbles, the 
immense power of the ocean raising the largest ships, groaning 
under their vast weight of ordnance, as if they were feathers. 
In a few minutes, Gardiner and Daggett became a little more 
separated, each looking eagerly for the spouts, which had not 
been seen by either since quitting his vessel. All this time the 
two mates came steadily on, until the whole of the little fleet 
of boats was, now, not less than a marine league distant from 
the schooners. The vessels themselves were w'orking up to 
windward, to keep as near to the boats as possible, making 
short tacks under reduced canvas; a ship-keeper, the cook, 
steward, and one or two other hands, being all who were left on 
board them. 

We shall suppose that most of our readers are sufficiently 


176 


THE SEA LIONS. 


acquainted with the general character of that class of animals 
to which the whale belongs, to know that all of the genus ^ 
breathe the atmospheric air, which is as necessary for life to 
them as it is to man himself. The only difference in this re- 
spect is, that the whale can go longer without renewing his 
respiration than all purely land-animals, though he must come 
up to breathe at intervals, or die. It is the exhaling of the old 
stock of air, when he brings the “ blow-holes,” as seamen call 
the outlets of his respiratory organs, to the surface, that forces 
the water upward, and forms the “ spouts,” which usually indi- 
cate to the whalers the position of their game. The “ spouts” 
vary in appearance, as has been mentioned, owing to the num- 
ber and situation of the orifices by which the exhausted air es- 
capes. No sooner is the vitiated air exhaled, than the lungs 
receive a new supply ; and the animal either remains near the 
surface, rolling about and sporting amid the waves, or descends 
again, a short distance, in quest of its food. This food, also, 
varies materially in the diflferent species. The right whale is 
supposed to live on what may be termed marine insects, or the 
molluscfe of the ocean, which it is thought he obtains by run- 
ning in the parts of the sea where they most abound ; arresting 
them by the hairy fibres which grow on the laminae of bone that, 
in a measure, compose his jaws, having no teeth. The sperma- 
ceti, however, is furnished with regular grinders, which he 
knows very well how to use, and with which he often crushes 
the boats of those who come against him. Thus, the whalers 
have but one danger to guard against, in assaulting the com- 
mon animal, viz., his flukes, or tail ; while the spermaceti, in 
addition to the last means of defence, possesses those of his 
teeth or jaws. As this latter animal is quite one-third head, 
he has no very great dissemblance to the alligator in this par- 
ticular. 

By means of this brief description of the physical formation 
and habits of the animals of which our adventurers were in 
pursuit, the general reader will be the better able to under- 


i 


THE SEA LIONS. 


Ill 

stand that which it is our duty now to record. After rowing 
the distance named, the boats became a little separated, in 
their search for the fish. That spouts had been seen, there was 
no doubt ; though, since quitting the schooners, no one in the 
boats had got a further view of the fish, — if fish, animals with 
respiratory organs can be termed. A good look-out for spouts 
had been kept by each man at the steering-oars, but entirely 
without success. Had not Roswell and Daggett, previously to 
leaving their respective vessels, seen the signs of whales with 
their own eyes, it is probable that they would now have both 
been disposed to return, calling in their mates. But, being 
certain that the creatures they sought were not far distant, 
they continued slowly to separate, each straining his eyes in 
quest of his game, as his boat rose on the summit of the rolling 
and tossing waves. Water in motion was all around them; 
and the schooners working slowly up against the trades, was 
all that rewarded their vigilant and anxious looks. Twenty 
times did each fancy that he saw the dark back, or head, of the 
object he sought ; but as often did it prove to be no more than 
a lipper of water, rolling up into a hummock ere it broke, 
or melting away again into the general mass of the unquiet 
ocean. When it is remembered that the surface of the 
sea is tossed into a thousand fantastic outlines, as its waves 
roll along, it can readily be imagined how such mistakes could 
arise. 

At length Gardiner discerned that which his practised eye 
well knew. It was the flukes, or extremity of the tail of an 
enormous whale, distant from him less than a quarter of a mile, 
and in such a position as to place the animal at about the same 
breadth of water from Daggett. It would seem that both of 
these vigilant ofiicers perceived their enemy at the same in- 
stant, for each boat started for it, as if it had been instinct with 
life. The pike or the shark ctould not have darted towards its 
prey with greater promptitude, and scarcely with greater velo- 
city, than these two boats. Very soon the whole herd was 

8 * 


178 


THE SEA LIONS. 


seen, swimming along against the wind, an enormous bull- 
whale leading, while half a dozen calves kept close to the sides 
of their dams, or sported among themselves, much as the off- 
spring of land animals delight in their youth and strength. 
Presently a mother rolled lazily over on her side, permitting 
its calf to suck. Others followed this example ; and then the 
leader of the herd ceased his passage to windward, but began 
to circle the spot, as if in complaisance to those considerate 
nurses who thus waited on the wants of their young. At 
this interesting moment, the boats came glancing in among 
the herd. 

Had the competition and spirit of rivalry been at a lower 
point among our adventurers than it actually was, greater cau- 
tion might have been observed. It is just as dangerous to 
assault a whale, that has its young to defend, as to assault 
most other animals. We know that the most delicate women 
become heroines in such straits; and nature seems to have 
given to the- whole sex, whether endowed with reason or only 
with an instinct, the same disposition to die in defence of the 
helpless creatures that so much depend on their care. But, no 
one there now thought of the risk he ran, it being the Vineyard 
against Oyster Pond, one Sea Lion against the other, and, in 
many instances, pocket against pocket. 

Boswell, as if disdaining all meaner game, pulled quite 
through the herd, and laid the bows of his boat directly on 
the side of the old bull — a hundred-barrel whale at the very 
least. No sooner did the enormous creature feel the harpoon, 
than, throwing its flukes upward, it descended into the depths 
of the ocean, with a velocity that caused smoke to arise from 
the chuck through which the line passed. Ordinarily, the 
movement of a whale is not much faster than an active man 
can walk ; and, when it runs on the surface, its speed seldom 
exceeds that of a swift vessel under full sail ; but, when sud- 
denly startled, with the harpoon in its blubber, the animal is 
capable of making a prodigious exertion. When struck, it 


THE SEA LIONS. 


179 


{ usually “ sounds,” as it is termed, or runs downward, sometimes 
to the depth of a mile ; and it is said that instances have been 
known in which the fish inflicted great injury on itself, by 
dashing its head against rocks. 

In the case before us, after running out three or four hundred 
! ; fathoms of line, the “ bull” to which Gardiner had “ fastened,” 
j ■■ came up to the surface, “ blowed,” and began to move slowly 
I ^ towards the herd again. No sooner was the harpoon thrown, 

! * than a change took place in the disposition of the crew of the 
boat, which it may be well to explain. The harpoon is a 
barbed javelin, fastened to a staff to give it momentum. The line 
: is attached to this weapon, the proper use of which is to “fasten” 

' ' to the fish, though it sometimes happens that the animal is 
/. killed at the first blow. This is when the harpoon has been 
hurled by a very skilful and vigorous harpoon er. Usually, this 
weapon penetrates some distance into the blubber in which a 
whale is encased, and when it is drawn back by the plunge of 
the fish, the barbed parts get imbedded in the tough integu- 
i ments of the hide, together with the blubber, and hold. The 
iron of the harpoon being very soft, the shank bends under the 
stra’n of the line, leaving the staff close to the animal’s body. 
Owing to this arrangement, the harpoon offers less resistance 
to the water, as the whale passes swiftly through it. No 
sooner did the boat-steerer, or harpooner, cast his “ irons,” as 
whalers term the harpoon, than he changed places with Ros- 
^ well, who left the steering-oar, and proceeded forward to wield 

'* the lance, the weapon with which the victory is finally consum- 
! mated. The men now “ peaked” their oars, as it is termed ; or 
they placed the handles in elects made to receive them, leaving 
■. the blades elevated in the air, so as to be quite clear of the 
; . water. This was done to get rid of the oars, in readiness for 
, other duty, while the instruments were left in the tholes, to be 
resorted to in emergencies. This gives a whale-boat a peculiar 
- appearance, with its five long oars raised in the air, at angles 
I approaching forty-five degrees. In the mean time, as the bull 


180 


THE SEA LIONS. 


approached the herd, or school,^ as the whalers term it, the 
boats’ crew began to haul in line, the boat-steerer coiling it 
away carefully, in a tub placed in the stern -sheets purposely to 
receive it. Any one can understand how important it was that 
this part of the duty should be well performed, since bights of 
line running out of a boat, dragged by a whale, would prove so 
many snares to the men’s legs, unless previously disposed of in 
a place proper to let it escape without this risk. For this rea- 
son it is, that the end of a line is never permitted to run out at 
the bow of a boat at all. It might do some injury in its pas- 
sage, and an axe is always applied near the bows, when it is 
found necessary to cut from a whale. 

It was so unusual a thing to see a fish turn towards the spot 
where it was struck, that Roswell did not know what to make 
of this manoeuvre in his bull. At first he supposed the animal 
meant to make fight, and set upon him with its tremendous 
jaws ; but it seemed that caprice or alarm directed the move- 
ment ; for, after coming within a hundred yards of the boat, 
the creature turned and commenced sculling away to wind- 
ward, with wide and nervous sweeps of its formidable flukes. 
It is by this process that all the fish of this genus force their 
way through the water, their tails being admirably adapted to 
the purpose. As the men had showed the utmost activity in 
hauling in upon the line, by the time the whale went oft' to 
windward again they had got the boat up within about four 
hundred feet of him. 

Now commenced a tow, dead to windward, it being known 
that a fish, when struck, seldom runs at first in any other di- 
rection. The rate at which the whale moved was not at the 
height of his speed, though it exceeded six knots. Occasion- 
ally, this rate was lessened, and in several instances his speed 
was reduced to less than half of that just mentioned. When- 
ever one of these lulls occurred, the men would haul upon the 

* We suppose this word to be a corruption of the Dutch ’■'’sckvle," which, we take 
It, means the same thing. 


THE SEA LIONS. 


181 


line, gradually getting nearer and nearer to the fish, until they 
were within fifty feet of his tremendous flukes. Here, a turn 
was taken with the line, and an opportunity to use the lance 
was waited for. 

Whalers say that a forty-barrel bull of the spermaceti sort is 
much the most dangerous to deal with of all the animals of this 
species. The larger bulls are infinitely the most powerful, and 
drive these half-grown creatures away in herds by themselves, 
that are called “ pads,” a circumstance that probably renders 
the young bull discontented and fierce. The last is not only 
more active than the larger animal, but is much more disposed 
to make fight, commonly giving his captors the greatest trouble. 
This may be one of the reasons why Roswell Gardiner now 
found himself towing at a reasonable rate, so close upon the 
flukes of a hundred-barrel whale. Still, there was that in the 
movements of this animal, that induced our hero to be exceed- 
ingly wary. He was now two leagues from the schooners, and 
half that distance from the other boats, neither of which had as 
yet fastened to a fish. This latter circumstance was imputed 
to the difiiculty the different officers had in making their selec- 
tions, — cows, of the spermaceti breed, when they give suck, being 
commonly light, and yielding, comparatively, very small quan- 
tities of head-matter and oil. In selecting the bull, Roswell 
had shown his judgment, the male animal commonly returning 
I to its conquerors twice the profit that is derived from the 
I female. 

^ The whale to which Roswell was fast, continued sculling 
- away to windward for quite two hours, causing the men to en- 
tirely lose sight of the other boats, and bringing the topsails of 
the schooners themselves down to the water’s edge. Fortu- 
nately, it was not yet noon, and there were no immediate appre- 
; hensions from the darkness ; nor did the bull appear to be much 
; alarmed, though the boat was towing so close in the rear. At 
first, or before the irons were thrown, the utmost care had been 
taken not to make a noise ; but the instant the crew were 


182 


THE SEA LIONS. 


“ fast,” whispers were changed into loud calls, and orders were 
passed in shouts, rather than in verbal commands. The wildest 
excitement prevailed among the men, strangely blended with a 
cool dexterity ; but it was very apparent that a high sporting 
fever was raging among them. Gardiner himself was much 
the coolest man in his own boat, as became his station and 
very responsible duties. 

Stimson, the oldest and the best seaman in the schooner, — 
he who had admonished his young commander on the subject 
of the gratitude due to the Deity — acted as the master’s boat- 
steerer, having first performed the duty of harpooner. It was 
to him that Gardiner now addressed the remarks he made, after 
having been fastened to his w'hale fully two hours. 

“ This fellow is likely to give us a long drag,” said the mas- 
ter, as he stood balancing himself on the clumsy elects in the 
bows of the boat, using his lance as an adept in saltation poises 
his pole on the wire, the water curling fairly above the gun- 
gale forward, with the rapid movement of the boat ; “ I would 
haul up alongside, and give him the lance, did I not distrust 
them fiukes. I believe he knows we are here.” 

“ That he does — that does he. Captain Gar’ner. It’s always 
best to be moderate and wait your time, sir. There’s a jerk 
about that chap’s flukes that I don’t like myself, and it’s best to 
see what he would be at, before we haul up any nearer. Don’t 
you see, sir, that every minute or two he strikes down, instead 
of sculling off handsomely and with a wide sweep, as becomes 
a whale ?” 

“ That is just the motion I distrust, Stephen, and I shall wait 
a bit to see what he would be at. I hope those ship-keepers 
will be busy, and work the schooners well up to windward be- 
fore it gets to be dark. Our man is asleep half his time, and is 
apt to let the vessel fall off a point or two.” 

“ Mr. Hazard gave him caution to keep a bright look-out, sir, 
and I think he’ll be apt to — look out, sir ! — look out !” 

This warning was well-timed ; for, just at that instant, the 


THE SEA LIONS. 


183 


whale ceased sculling, and lifting its enormous tail high in the 
air, it struck five or six blows on the surface of the water, that 
made a noise which might have been heard half a league, be- 
sides filling the atmosphere immediately around him with 
spray. As the tale first appeared in the air, line was permitted 
to run out of the boat, increasing the distance between its bows 
and the flukes to quite a hundred feet. Nothing could better 
show the hardy characters of the whalers than the picture then 
presented by Roswell Gardiner and his companions. In the 
midst of the Atlantic, leagues from their vessel, and no other 
boat in sight, there they sat patiently waiting the moment 
when the giant of the deep should abate in his speed, or in his 
antics, to enable them to approach and complete their capture. 
Most of the men sat with their arms crossed, and bodies half- 
turned, regarding the scene, while the two officers, the master 
and boat-steerer, if the latter could properly be thus designated, 
watched each evolution with a keenness of vigilance that let 
nothing like a sign or a symptom escape them. 

Such was the state of things, the whale still threshing the 
sea with his flukes, when a cry among his men induced Ros- 
well for a moment to look aside. There came Daggett fast to 
a small bull, which was running directly in the wind’s eye with 
great speed, dragging the boat after him, which was towing 
astern at a distance of something like two hundred fathoms. 
At first, Roswell thought he should be compelled to cut from 
his whale, so directly towards his own boat did the other ani- 
mal direct his course. But, intimidated, most probably, by the 
tremendous blows with which the larger bull continued to be- 
labor the ocean, the smaller animal sheered away in time to 
; avoid a collision, though he now began to circle the spot where 
^ his dreaded monarch lay. This change of course gave rise to 
S a new source of apprehension. If the smaller bull should con- 
^ tinue to encircle the larger, there was great reason to believe 
' that the line of Daggett might get entangled with the boat of 
; Gardiner, and produce a collision that might prove fatal to all 


184 


THE SEA LIONS. 


there. In order to be ready to meet this danger, Roswell or- 
dered his crew to be on the look-out, and to have their knives 
in a state for immediate use. It was not known what might 
have been the consequence of this circular movement as re- 
spects the two boats ; for, before they could come together, 
Daggett’s line actually passed into the mouth of Gardiner’s 
whale, and drawing up tight into the angle of his jaws, set the 
monster in motion with a momentum and power that caused 
the iron to draw from the smaller whale, which by this time 
had more than half encircled the animal. So rapid was the 
rate of running now, that Roswell was obliged to let out line, 
his whale sounding to a prodigious depth. Daggett did the 
same, unwilling to cut as long as he could hold on to his line. 

At the expiration of five minutes the large bull came up 
again for breath, with both lines still fast to him ; the one in 
the regular way, or attached to the harpoon, and the other 
jammed in the jaws of the animal by means of the harpoon 
and staff, which formed a sort of toggle at the angle of his 
enormous mouth. In consequence of feeling this unusual tenant, 
the fish compressed its jaws together, thus rendering the fasten- 
ing so much the more secure. As both boats had let run line 
freely while the whale was sounding, they now found them- 
selves near a quarter of a mile astern of him, towing along, 
side by side, and not fifty feet asunder. If the spirit of rivalry 
had been aroused among the crew of these two boats before, it 
was now excited to a degree that menaced acts of hostility. 

“You know, of course. Captain Daggett, that this is my 
whale,” said Gardiner. “ I was fast to him regularly, and was 
only waiting for him to become a little quiet to lance him, 
when your whale crossed his course, fouled your line, and has 
got you fast in an unaccountable way, but not according to 
whaling law.” 

“ I don’t know that. I fastened to a whale. Captain Gar’ner, 
and am fast to a whale now. It must be proved that I have no 
right to the crittur’ before I give him up.” 


THE SEA LIONS. 


185 


Gardiner understood the sort of man with whom he had to 
deal too well to waste words in idle remonstrances. Kesolved 
to maintain his just rights at every hazard, he ordered his men 
to haul in upon the line, the movement of the whale becoming 
so slow as to admit of this measure. Daggett’s crew did the 
same, and a warm contest existed between the two boats, as to 
which should now first close with the fish and kill it. This 
was not a moment for prudence and caution. It was “ haul in 
— haul in, boys,” in both boats, without any regard to the dan- 
ger of approaching the whale. A very few minutes sufficed to 
bring the parties quite in a line with the flukes,* Gardiner’s 
boat coming up on the larboard or left-hand side of the animal, 
where its iron was fast, and Daggett’s on the opposite, its line 
leading out of the jaws of the fish in that direction. The two 
masters stood erect on their respective clumsy elects, each pois- 
ing his lance, waiting only to get near enough to strike. The 
men were now at the oars, and without pausing for any thing, 
both crews sprung to their ashen instruments, and drove the 
boats headlong upon the fish. Daggett, perhaps, was the cool- 
est and most calculating at that moment, but Roswell was the 
most nervous, and the boldest. The boat of the last actually hit 
the side of the whale, as its young commander drove his lance 
through the blubber, into the vitals of the fish. At the same 
instant Daggett through his lance with consummate skill, and 
went to the quick. It was now “ stern all !” for life, each boat 
backing off from the danger as fast as hands could urge. The 
sea was in a foam, the fish going into his “ flurry” almost as soon 
as struck, and both crews were delighted to see the red of the 
blood mingling its deep hues with the white of the troubled 
water. Once or twice the animal spouted, but it was a fluid 
dyed in his gore. In ten minutes it turned up and was dead. 


]86 


THE SEA LIONS. 


CHAPTER XII. 

“ God save you, sir I” 

“And you, sir! you are welcome.” 

“Travel you far on, or are you at the furthest?” 

“ Sir, at the furthest for a week or two.” 

Shakspkark. 

Gardiner and Daggett met, face to face, on tlie carcase of 
the whale. Each struck his lance into the blubber, steadying 
himself by its handle ; and each eyed the other in a way that 
betokened feelings awakened by a keen desire to defend his 
rights. It is a fault of American character, — a fruit of the in- 
stitutions, beyond a doubt, — that renders men unusually indis- 
posed to give up. This stubbornness of temperament, that so 
many mistake for a love of liberty and independence, is produc- 
tive of much good, when the parties happen to be right, and of 
quite as much evil, when they happen to be wrong. It is ever 
the wisest, as, indeed, it is the noblest course, to defer to that 
which is just, with a perfect reliance on its being the course 
pointed out by the finger of infallible wisdom and truth. He 
who does this, need feel no concern for his dignity, or for his suc- 
cess ; being certain that it is intended that right shall prevail in 
the end, as prevail it will and does. But both our shipmasters 
were too much excited to feel the force of these truths ; and 
there they stood, sternly regarding each other, as if it were 
their purpose to commence a new struggle for the possession of 
the leviathan of the deep. 

“ Captain Daggett,” said Roswell, sharply, “ you are too old 
a whaler not to know w^haling law. My irons were fast’ in this 
fish ; I never have been loose from it, since it was first struck. 


THE SEA LIONS. 


187 


and iny lance killed it. Under such circumstances, sir, I am 
surprised that any man, who knows the usages among whalers, 
should have stuck by the creature as you have done.” 

“ It’s in my natur’, Gar’’ner,” was the answer. “ I stuck by 
you when you was dismasted under Hatteras, and I stick by 
every thing that I undertake. This is what I call Vineyard 
natur’ ; and I’m not about to discredit my native country.” 

“ This is idle talk,” returned Roswell, casting a severe glance 
at the men in the Vineyard boat, among whom a common 
smile arose, as if they highly approved of the reph^ of their own 
ojKcer. “You very well know that Vineyard law cannot settle 
such a question, but American law. Were you man enough to 
take this whale from me, as I trust you are not, on our return 
home you could be, and would be, made to pay smartly for the 
act. Uncle Sam has a long arm, with which he sometimes 
reaches round the whole earth. Before you proceed any further 
in this matter, it may be well to remember that.” 

Daggett reflected ; and it is probable that, as he cooled off 
from the excitement created by his late exertions, he fully 
recognized the justice of the other’s remarks, and the injustice 
of his own claims. Still, it seemed to him un-American, un- 
Vineyard, if the reader please, to “ give up and he clung to 
his error with as much pertinacity as if he had been right. 

“ If you are fast, I am fast, too. I’m not so certain of your 
law. When a man puts an iron into a whale, commonly it is 
his flsh, if he can get him, and kill him. But there is a law 
above all whalers’ law, and that is the law of Divine Provi- 
dence. Providence has fastened us to this crittur’, as if on pur- 
pose to give us a right in it ; and I’m by no means so sure 
States’ law won’t uphold that doctrine. Then, I lost my own 
whale by means of this, and am entitled to some compensation 
for such a loss.” 

“ You lost your own whale because he led round the head 
of mine, and not only drew his own iron, but came nigh 
causing me to cut. If any one is entitled to damage for such 


188 


THE SEA LIONS. 


an act, it is I, who have been put to extra trouble in getting 
my fish.” 

“ I do believe it was my lance that did the job for the fel- 
low ! I darted, and you struck ; in that way I got the start of 
you, and may claim to have made the crittur’ spout the first 
blood. But, hearkee, Gar’ner — there’s my hand — we’ve been 
friends so far, and I want to hold out friends. I will make you 
a proposal, therefore. Join stocks from this moment, and 
whale, and seal, and do all things else in common. When we 
make a final stowage for the return passage, we can make a 
final division, and each man take his share of the common ad- 
venture.” 

To do Roswell justice, he saw through the artifice of this 
proposition, the instant it was uttered. It had the effect, not- 
withstanding, a good deal to mollify his feelings, since it in- 
duced him to believe that Daggett was manoeuvring to get at 
his great secret, rather than to assail his rights. 

“ You are part owner of your schooner. Captain Daggett,” 
our hero answered, “ while I have no other interest in mine 
than my lay, as her master. You may have authority to make 
such a bargain, but I have none. It is my duty to fill the craft 
as fast and as full as I can, and carry her back safely to Deacon 
Pratt; but, I dare say, your Vineyard people will let you 
cruise about the earth at your pleasure, trusting to Providence 
for a profit. I cannot accept your offer.” 

“ This is answering like a man, Gar’ner, and I like you all 
the better for it. Forty or fifty barrels of ile sha’n’t break 
friendship between us. I helped you into port at Beaufort, 
and gave up the salvage ; and now I’ll help tow your whale 
alongside, and see you fairly through this business, too. Per- 
haps I shall have all the better luck for being a little gen- 
erous.” 

There was prudence, as well as art, in this decision of Dag- 
gett’s. Notwithstanding his ingenious pretensions to a claim 
in the whale, he knew perfectly well that no law would sustain 


THE SEA LIONS. 


189 


• it ; and that, in addition to the chances of being beaten on the 
spot, which were at least equal, he would certainly be beaten 
in the courts at home, should he really attempt to carry out 
his declared design. Then, he really deferred to the expectation 
that his future good fortune might be influenced by his present 
forbearance. Superstition forms a material part of a sailor’s 
nature, if, indeed, it do not that of every man engaged in 
hazardous and uncertain adventures. How far his hopes were 
justified in this last respect, will appear in the contents of a 
communication that Deacon Pratt received from the master of 
his schooner, and to which we will now refer, as the clearest 
and briefest mode of continuing the narrative. 

The Sea Lion left Oyster Pond late in September. It was 
the third day of March, in the succeeding year, that Mary was 
standing at a window, gazing with melancholy interest at that 
point in the adjacent waters where last she had seen, nearly 
six months before, the vessel of Roswell disappear behind the 
woods of the island that bears his family name. There had 
been a long easterly gale, but the weather had changed ; the 
south wind blew softly, and all the indications of an early spring 
were visible. For the first time in three months, she had raised 
the sash of that window ; and the air that entered was bland, 
and savored of the approaching season. 

“ I dare say, uncle” — the deacon was writing near a very low 
wood-fire, which was scarcely more than embers — “ I dare say, 
uncle,” said the sweet voice of Mary, which was a little tremu- 
lous with feeling, “ that the ocean is calm enough to-day. It 
is very silly in us to tremble, when there is a storm, for those 
who must now be so many, many thousand miles away. 
What is the distance between the Antarctic Seas and Oyster 
Pond, I wonder ?” 

“You ought to be able to calculate that yourself, gal, or 
what is the use to pay for your schooling ?” 

“ I should not know how to set about it, uncle,” returned 
the gentle Mary, “ though I should be very glad to know.” 


190 


THE SEA LIONS. 


“ How many miles are there in a degree of latitude, child ? 
You know that, I believe.” 

“ More than sixty-nine, sir.” 

“ Well, in what latitude is Oyster Pond ?” 

“ I have heard Roswell say that we were a little higher, as 
he calls it, than forty-one.” 

“ Well, 41 times 69” — figuring as he spoke — “ make 2829 ; 
say we are 3000 miles from the equator, the nearest way we 
can get there. Then, the antarctic circle commences in 23° 30' 
south, which, deducted from 90 degrees, leave just 66° 30' be- 
tween the equator and the nearest spot within the sea you have 
mentioned. Now, 66° 30' give about 4589 statute miles more, 
in a straight line, allowing only 69 to a degree. The two 
sums, added together, make 7589 miles, or rather more. But 
the road is not straight, by any means, as shipmasters tell me ; 
and I suppose Gar’ner must have gone, at the very least, 8000 
miles to reach his latitude, to say nothing of a considerable dis- 
tance of longitude to travel over, to the southward of Cape 
Horn.” 

“ It is a terrible distance to have a friend from us !” ejacula- 
ted Mary, though in a low, dejected tone. 

“ It is a terrible distance for a man to trust his property away 
from him, gal ; and I do not sleep a-nights for thinking of it, 
when I remember where my own schooner may be all this 
time !” 

“ Ah, here is Baiting Joe, and with a letter in his hand, un- 
cle, I do declare !” 

It might be a secret hope that impelled Mary, for away she 
bounded, like a young fawn, running to meet the old fisherman 
at the door. No sooner did her eyes fall on the superscription, 
than the large package was pressed to her heart, and she 
seemed, for an instant, lost in thanksgiving. That no one 
might unnecessarily be a witness of what passed between her 
uncle and herself, Joe was directed to the kitchen, where a 
good meal, a glass of rum and water, and the quarter of a dol- 


THE SEA LIONS. 


191 




lar that Mary gave him, as she showed the way, satisfied him 
with the results of his trouble. 

“ Here it is, uncle,” cried the nearly breathless girl, re-enter- 
ing the “ keeping-room,” and unconsciously holding the letter 
still pressed to her heart, — “ a letter — a letter from Roswell, 
in his own precious hand.” 

A flood of tears gave some relief to feelings that had so long 
I been pent, and eased a heart that had been compressed nearly 
[i. to breaking. At any other time, and at this unequivocal evi- 
dence of the hold the young man had on the affections of his 
niece. Deacon Pratt would have remonstrated with her on 
the folly of refusing to become “ Roswell Gar’ner’s” wife ; 

! but the sight of the letter drove all other thoughts from 
j his head, concentrating his whole being in the fate of the 
I schooner. 

' “ Look, and see if it has the Antarctic post-mark on it, 

Mary,” said the deacon, in a tremulous voice. 

This request was not made so much in ignorance as in trepi- 
dation. The deacon very well knew that the islands the Sea 
Lion was to visit were uninhabited, and were destitute of post- 
, offices ; but his ideas were confused, and apprehension rendered 
him silly. 

“Uncle,” exclaimed the niece, wiping the tears from a face 
! that was now rosy with blushes at her own weakness, “ surely, 
Roswell can find no post-office where he is !” 

“ But the letter must have some post-mark, child. Baiting 
!• Joe has not brought it himself into the country.” 

“It is post-marked ‘New York,’ sir, and nothing else. Yes, 
here is ‘Forwarded by Cane, Spriggs, and Button, Rio de Ja- 
neiro.’ It must have been put into a post-office there.” 

' “ Rio ! — Here is more salvage, gal — more salvage coming to 

aflflict me !” 

“But you had no salvage to pay, uncle, on the other occa- 
I sion ; perhaps there will be none to pay on this. Had I not 
I better open the letter at once, and see what has happened ?” 


192 


THE SEA LIONS. 


“Yes, open it, child,” answered the deacon, in a voice so 
feeble as to be scarcely audible — “ open it at once, as you say, 
and let me know my fate. Any thing is better than this tor- 
ment !” 

Mary did not wait for a second permission, but instantly 
broke the seal. It might have been the result of education, or 
there may be such a thing as female instinct in these matters ; 
but certain it is, that the girl turned towards the window, as 
she tore the paper asunder, and slipped the letter that bore her 
own name into a fold of her dress, so dexterously, that one far 
more keen-sighted than her uncle would not have detected the 
act. No sooner was her own letter thus secured, than the 
niece offered the principal epistle to her uncle. 

“Head it yourself, Mary,” said the last, in his querulous 
tones. “ My eyes are so dim, that I could not see to read it.” 

“Rio de Janeiro, Province of Brazil, South America, Nov. 
14th, 1819,” commenced the niece. 

“Rio de Janeiro!” interrupted the uncle. “Why, that is 
round Cape Horn, isn’t it, Mary ?” 

“ Certainly not, sir. Brazil is on the east side of the Andes, 
and Rio de Janeiro is its capital. The king of Portugal lives 
there now, and has lived there as long as I can remember.” 

“Yes, yes; I had forgotten. The Brazil Banks, where our 
whalers go, are in the Atlantic. But what can have taken 
Gar’ner into Rio, unless it be to spend more money 1” 

“ By reading the letter, sir, we shall soon know. I see there 
is something about spermaceti oil here.” 

“ He ? And spalm ile, do you say 1” exclaimed the deacon, 
brightening up at once — “ Read on, Mary, my good gal — read 
the letter as fast as you can — read it at a trot.” 

“Deacon Israel Pratt — Dear sir,” continued Mary, in obedi- 
ence to this command, “ the two schooners sailed from Beaufort, 
North Carolina, as stated already, per mail, in a letter written 
at that port, and which has doubtless come to hand. We had 
fine weather, and a tolerable run of it, until we reached the ^ 


THE SEA LIONS. 


193 


calm latitudes, where we were detained by the usua changes 
for about a week. On the 1 8th Oct. the pleasant cry of ‘ there 
she spouts’ was heard aboard here, and we found ourselves in 
the neighborhood of whales. Both schooners lowered their 
boats, and I was soon fast to a fine bull, who gave us a long 
tow before the lance was put into him, and he was made to 
spout blood. Captain Daggett set up some claims to this fish, 
in consequence of his line’s getting foul of the creature’s jaws, 
but he changed his mind in good season, and clapped on to 
help tow the whale down to the vessel. His irons drew from a 
young bull, and a good deal of dissatisfaction existed among 
the other crew, until, fortunately, the school of young bulls 
came round quite near us, when Captain Daggett and his peo- 
ple succeeded in securing no less than three of the fish, and 
Mr. Hazard got a very fine one for us. 

‘‘ I am happy to say that we had very pleasant weather to 
cut in, and secured every gallon of the oil of both our whales, 
as did Captain Daggett all of his. Our largest bull made one 
hundred and nineteen barrels, of which forty-three barrels was 
head-matter. I never saw better case and junk in a whale in 
my life. The smallest bull turned out well, too, making fifty- 
eight barrels, of which twenty-one was head. Daggett got one 
hundred and thirty- three barrels from his three fish, a very fair 
proportion of head, though not as large as our own. Having 
this oil on board, we came in here after a pleasant run ; and I 
have shipped, as per invoice inclosed, one hundred and seven- 
ty-seven barrels of spermaceti oil, viz., sixty- four barrels of 
head, and rest in body-oil, to your order, care of Fish & Grin- 
nell. New York, by the brig Jason, Captain Williams, who will 
sail for home about the 20th proximo, and to whom I trust this 
letter” — 

“Stop, Mary, my dear— this news is overpowering— it is 
almost too good to be true,” interrupted the deacon, nearly as 
much unmanned by this intelligence of his good fortune as he 
had previously been by his apprehensions. “Yes, it does seem 

9 


194 


THE SEA LIONS. 


too good to be true : read it again, child ; yes, read every syl- 
lable of it again !” 

Mary complied, delighted enough to hear all she could of 
Roswell’s success. 

“ Why, uncle,” said the deeply-interested girl, “ all this oil is 
' spermaceti ! It is worth a great deal more than so much of 
that which comes of the right whale.” 

“ More ! Ay, nearly as three for one. Hunt me up the last 
Spectator, girl — hunt me up the last Spectator, and let me see 
at once at what they quote spalm.” 

Mary soon found the journal, and handed it to her uncle. 

“Yes, here it is, and quoted $1.12^ per gallon, as I live! 
That’s nine shillings a gallon, Mary — just calculate on that bit 
of paper — thirty times one hundred and seventy-seven, Mary ; 
how much is that, child ?” 

“I make it 5310, uncle — yes, that is right. But what are 
the 30 times for, sir?” 

“ Gallons, gal, gallons. Each barrel has 30 gallons in it, if 
not more. There ought to be 32 by rights, but this is a cheat- 
ing age. Now, multiply 5310 by 9, and see what that comes 
to.” 

“Just 47, 790, sir, as near as I can get it.” 

“Yes, that’s the shillings. Now, divide 47,790 by 8, my 
dear. Be actyve, Mary, be actyve.” 

“It leaves 5973, with a remainder of 6, sir. I believe I’m 
right.” 

“ I dare say you are, child ; yes, I dare say you are. This is 
the dollars. A body may call them $6000, as the barrels will 
a little overrun the 30 gallons. My share of this will be two- 
thirds, and that will nett the handsome sum of, say $4000 1” 

The deacon rubbed his hands with delight, and having found 
his voice again, his niece was astonished at hearing him utter 
what he had to say, with a sort of glee that sounded in her 
ears as very unnatural, coming from him. So it was, however, 
and she dutifully endeavored not to think of it. 


THE SEA LIONS. 


195 


“ Four thousand dollars, Mary, will quite cover the first cost 
of the schooner ; that is, without including outfit and spare- 
rigging, of which her master took about twice as much as was 
necessary. He’s a capital fellow, is that young Gar’ner, and 
will make an excellent husband, as I’ve always told you, child. 
A little wasteful, perhaps, but an excellent youth at the bottom. 
I dare say he lost his spars off Cape Hatteras in trying to out- 
sail that Daggett ; but I overlook all that now. He’s a capital 
youth to work upon a whale or a sea-elephant ! There isn’t his 
equal, as I’ll engage, in all Ameriky, if you’ll only let him 
know where to find the creator’s. I knew his character before 
I engaged him ; for no man but a real skinner shall ever com- 
mand a craft of mine.” 

“ Roswell is a good fellow,” answered Mary, with emphasis, 
the tears filling her eyes as she listened to these eulogiums of 
her uncle on the youth she loved with all of a woman’s tender- 
ness, at the very moment she scrupled to place her happiness 
on one whose “ God was not her God.” “No one knows him 
better than I, uncle, and no one respects him more. But, had 
I not better read the rest of his letter ? — there is a gx)od deal 
more of it.” 

! “ Go on, child, go on — but, read the part over again where 

I he speaks of the quantity of the ile he has shipped to Fish & 
!' Grinnel.” 

Mary did as requested, when she proceeded to read aloud the 
rest of the communication. 

“ I have been much at a loss how to act in regard to Captain 
Daggett,” said Roswell, in his letter. “ He stood by me so 
manfully and generously off Cape Hatteras, that I did not like 
) to part company in the night, or in a squall, which would have 
' seemed ungrateful, as well as wearing a sort of runaway look. 

> I am afraid he has some knowledge of the existence of our isl- 
ands, though I doubt whether he has their latitude and longi- 
tude exactly. Something there is of this nature on board the 
other schooner, her people often dropping hints to my officers 


196 


THE SEA LIONS. 


and men, when they have been gamming. I have sometimes 
fancied Daggett sticks so close to us, that he may get the ad- 
vantage of our reckoning to help him to what he wants to find, 
lie is no gi’eat navigator anywhere, running more by signs and 
currents, in my judgment, than by the use of his instruments. 
Still, he could find his way to any part of the world.” 

“ Stop there, Mary ; stop a little, and let me have time to 
consider. Isn’t it awful, child ?” 

The niece changed color, and seemed really frightened, so 
catching was the deacon’s distress, though she scarce knew 
what was the matter. 

“ What is awful, uncle ?” at length she asked, anxious to 
know the worst. 

“ This covetousness in them Vineyarders ! I consider it both 
awful and wicked. I must get the Rev. Mr. Whittle to preach 
against the sin of covetousness ; it does gain so much ground 
in Ameriky ! The whole Church should lift its voice against 
it, or it will shortly lift its voice against the Church. To think 
of them Daggetts fitting out a schooner to follow my craft 
about the ’arth in this unheard-of manner ; just as if she was 
a pilot-boat, and young Gar’ner a pilot ! I do hope the fellows 
will make a wrack of it, among the ice of the antarctic seas ! 
That would be a fit punishment for their impudence and covet- 
ousness.” 

“ I suppose, sir, they think that they have the same right 
to sail on the ocean that others have. Seals and whales are 
the gifts of God, and one person has no more right to them 
than another.” 

“ You forget, Mary, that one man may have a secret that 
another doesn’t know. In that case he ought not to go prying 
about like an old woman in a village neighborhood. Read on, 
child, read on, and let me know the worst at once.” 

“ I shall sail to-morrow, having finished all my business here, 
and hope to be off Cape Horn in twenty days, if not sooner. 
In what manner I am to get rid of Daggett, I do not yet know. 


THE SEA LIONS. 


197 


He outsails me a little on all tacks, unless it be in very heavy 
weather, when I have a trifling advantage over him. It will be 
in my power to quit him any dark night ; but if I let him 
go ahead, and he should really have any right notions about 
the position of the islands, he might get there first, and make 
havoc among the seals.” 

“ Awful, awful !” interrupted the deacon, again ; “ that 
would be the worst of all ! I won’t allow it ; I forbid it — it 
shall not be !” 

“ Alas ! uncle, poor Roswell is too far from us, now, to hear 
these words. No doubt the matter is long since decided, and 
he has acted according to the best of his judgment.” 

“ It is terrible to have one’s property so far away ! Govern- 
ment ought to have steamboats, or packets of some sort, running 
between New York and Cape Horn, to carry orders back and 
forth. But we shall never have things right, Mary, so long as 
the democrats are uppermost.” 

By this remark, which savors very strongly of a species of 
censure that is much in fashion in the coteries of that Great 
Emporium, which it is the taste and pleasure of its people to 
term a commercial emporium, especially among elderly ladies, 
the reader will at once perceive that the deacon w’as a federal- 
ist, which was somewhat of a novelty in Suffolk, thirty years 
since. Had he lived down to our own times, the old man 
would probably have made all the gyrations in politics that 
have distinguished the school to which he would have be- 
longed, and, without his own knowledge, most probably, would 
have been as near an example of perpetual motion as the 
world will ever see, through his devotion to what are now 
called “ Whig Principles.” We are no great politician, but 
time has given us the means of comparing; and we often 
smile when we hear the disciples of Hamilton, and of Adams, 
and of all that high-toned school, declaiming against the use of 
the veto, and talking of the “ one man power,” and of Congress 
leading the government ! The deacon was very apt to throw 


198 


THE SEA LIONS. 


the opprobrium of even a bad season on the administration, 
and the reader has seen what he thought of the subject of run- 
ning packets between New York and Cape Horn. 

“ There ought to be a large navy, Mary — a monstrous navy, 
so that the vessels might be kept carrying letters about, and serv- 
ing the public. But we shall never have things right, until 
Rufus King, or some man like him, gets in. If Gar’ner lets 
that Daggett get the start of him, he never need come home 
again. The islands are as much mine as if I had bought 
them ; and I’m not sure an action wouldn’t lie for seals taken 
on them without my consent. Yes, yes ; we want a monstrous 
navy, to convoy sealers, and carry letters about, and keep some 
folks at home, while it lets other folks go about their lawful 
business.” 

“ Of what islands are you speaking, uncle ? Surely the 
sealing islands, where Roswell has gone, are public and unin- 
habited, and no one has a better right there than another !” 

The deacon perceived that he had gone too far in his tribu- 
lation, and began to have a faint notion that he was making a 
fool of himself. He asked his niece, in a very faint voice, there- 
fore, to hand him the letter, the remainder of which he would 
endeavor to read himself. Although every word that Roswell 
Gardiner wrote was very precious to Mary, the gentle girl had 
a still unopened epistle to herself to peruse, and glad enough 
was she to make the exchange. Handing the deacon his let- 
ter, therefore, she withdrew at once to her private room, in 
order to read her own. 

“ Dearest Mary,” said Roswell Gardiner, in this epistle, “ your 
uncle will tell you what has brought us into this port, and all 
things connected with the schooner. I have sent home more 
than $4000 worth of oil, and I hope my owner will forgive the 
accident off Currituck, on account of this run of good luck. 
In my opinion, we shall yet make a voyage, and that part of 
my fortune will be secure. Would that I could feel as sure of 
finding you more disposed to be kind to me, on my return ! I 


THE SEA LIONS. 


199 


I 

I 

read in your Bible every day, Mary, and I often pray to God to 
enlighten my mind, if my views have been wrong. As yet, I 
cannot flatter myself with any change, for my old opinions 
appear rather to be more firmly rooted than they were before I 
sailed.” Here poor Mary heaved a heavy sigh, and wiped the 
tears from her eyes. She was pained to a degree she could 
hardly believe possible, though she did full credit to Roswell’s 
f’ frankness. Like all devout persons, her faith in the efficacy of 
: sacred writ was strong ; and she so much the more lamented 
her suitor’s continued blindness, because it remained after light 
: • had shone upon it. “ Still, Mary,” the letter added, “ as I have 
^ every human inducement to endeavor to be right, I shall not 
throw aside the book, by any means. In that I fully believe ; 

; our difierence being in what the volume teaches. Pray for me, 
•• sweetest girl — but I know you do, and will continue to do, as 
long as I am absent.” 

“ Yes,- indeed, Roswell,” murmured Mary — “ as long as you 
and I live !” 

“ Next to this one great concern of my life, comes that which 
‘ this man Daggett gives me,” the letter went on to say. “ I 
hardly know what to do under all the circumstances. Keep 
in his company much longer I cannot, without violating my 
duty to the deacon. Yet, it is not easy, in any sense, to get rid 
of him. He has stood by me so manfully on all occasions, and 
seems so much disposed to make good-fellowship of the voyage, 
that, did it depend on myself only, I should at once make a 
bargain with him to seal in company, and to divide the spoils. 
But this is now impossible, and I must quit him in some way or 
other. He outsails me in most weathers, and it is a thing 
easier said than done. What will make it more difficult is the 
growing shortness of the nights. The days lengthen fast now, 
and as we go south they will become so much longer that, by 
the time when it will be indispensable to separate, it will be 
nearly all day. The thing must be done, however, and I trust 
to luck to be able to do it as it ought to be effected. 


200 


THE SEA LIONS. 


“ And now, dearest, dearest Mary — ” But why should we 
lift the veil from the feelings of this young man, who concluded 
his letter by pouring out his whole heart in a few sincere and 
manly sentences. Mary wept over them most of that day, 
perusing and reperusing them, until her eyes would scarce per- 
form their proper office. 

A few days later the deacon was made a very happy man by 
the receipt of a letter from Fish and Grinnell, notifying him of 
the arrival of his oil, accompanied by a most gratifying account 
of the state of the market, and asking for instructions. The 
oil was disposed of, and the deacon pocketed his portion of the 
proceeds as soon as possible ; eagerly looking for a new and 
profitable investment for the avails. Great was the reputation 
Roswell Gardiner made by this capture of the two spermaceti 
whales, and by sending the proceeds to so good a market. In 
commerce, as in war, success is all in all, though in both suc- 
cess is nearly as often the result of unforeseen circumstances as 
of calculation and wisdom. It is true there is a sort of trade, 
and a sort of war, in which prudence and care may effect a 
great deal, yet are both often outstripped by the random exer- 
tions and adventures of those who calculate almost as wildly as 
they act. Audacity, as the French term it, is a great quality in 
war, and often achieves more than the most calculated wisdom 
— nay, it becomes wisdom in that sort of struggle ; and we are 
far from being sure that audacity is not sometimes as potent in 
trade. At all events, it w^as esteemed a bold, as well as a pros- 
perous exploit, for a little schooner like the Sea Lion of Oyster 
Pond, to take a hundred-barrel whale, and to send home its 
“ ile,” as the deacon always pronounced the word, in common 
with most others in old Suffolk. 

Long and anxious months, with one exception, succeeded 
this bright spot of sunshine in Mary Pratt’s solicitude in be- 
half of the absent Roswell. She knew there was but little 
chance of hearing from him again until he returned north. The 
exception was a short letter that the deacon received, dated 


THE SEA LIONS. 


201 


two weeks later than that written from Rio, in latitude forty- 
one, or just as far south of the equator as Oyster Pond was 
north of it, and nearly fourteen hundred miles to the south- 
ward of Rio. This letter was written in great haste, to send 
home by a Pacific trader who was accidentally met nearer the 
coast than was usual for such vessels to be. It stated that all 
was well ; that the schooner of Daggett was still in company ; 
and that Gardiner intended to get “ shut” of her, as the deacon 
expressed it, on the very first occasion. 

After the receipt of this letter, the third written by Roswell 
Gardiner since he left home, a long and blank interval of si- 
lence succeeded. Then it was that months passed away in an 
anxious and dark uncertainty. Spring followed winter, sum- 
mer succeeded to spring, and autumn came to reap the fruits of 
I all the previous seasons, without bringing any further tidings 
; from the adventurers. Then winter made its second appear- 
t ance since the Sea Lion had sailed, filling the minds of the 
j mariner’s friends with sad forebodings as they listened to the 
meanings of the gales that accompanied that bleak and stormy 
quarter of the year. Deep and painful were the anticipations 
I of the deacon, in whom failing health and a near approach to 
' the “ last of earth,” came to increase the gloom. As for Mary, 
youth and health sustained her ; but her very soul was heavy, 
as she pondered on so long and uncertain an absence. 

9 * 


202 


THE SEA LIONS. 


CHAPTER XIIL 

“ Safely in harbor 

Is the king’s ship ; in the deep nook, where once 
Thou calledst me up at midnight to fetch dew 
From the still vex’d Bermoothes, there she’s hid.” 

Tempest. 

The letter of Roswell Gardiner last received, bore the date 
of December 10th, 1819, or just a fortnight after he had sailed 
from Rio de Janeiro. We shall next present the schooner of 
Deacon Pratt to the reader on the 18th of that month, or three 
weeks and one day after she had sailed from the capital of - 
Brazil. Early in the morning of the day last mentioned, the 
Sea Lion of Oyster Pond was visible, standing to the northward, 
with the wind light but freshening from the westward, and 
in smooth water. Land was not only in sight, but was quite . 
near, less than a league distant. Towards this land the head J 
of the schooner had been laid, and she was approaching it at 
the rate of some four or five knots. The land was broken, high, 
of a most sterile aspect, where it was actually to be seen, and 
nearly all covered with a light but melting snow, though the 
season was advanced to the middle of the first month in sum- 
mer. The weather was not very cold, however, and there was 
a feeling about it that promised it would become still milder. 
The aspect of the neighboring land, so barren, rugged, and in- 
hospitable, chilled the feelings, and gave to the scene a sombre 
hue, which the weather itself might not have imparted. Di- 
rectly ahead of the schooner rose a sort of pyramid of broken 
rocks, which, occupying a small island, stood isolated in a 
measure, and some distance in advance of other and equally 
ragged ranges of mountains, which belonged also to islands 


THE SEA LIONS. 


203 


detached from the main land thousands of years before, under 
some violent convulsions of nature. 

It was quite apparent that all on board the schooner regarded 
that ragged pyramid with lively interest. Most of the crew 
was collected on the forecastle, including the officers, and all 
eyes were fastened on the ragged pyramid which they were 
diagonally approaching. The principal spokesman was Stim- 
son, the oldest mariner on board, and one who had oftener vis- 
ited those seas than any other of the crew. 

“You know the spot, do you, Stephen?” demaded Roswell 
Gardiner, with interest. 

“Yes, sir, there’s no mistake. That’s the Horn. Eleven 
times have I doubled it, and this is the third time that I’ve 
been so close in as to get a fair sight of it. Once I went inside, 
as I’ve told you, sir.” 

I have doubled it six times myself,” said Gardiner, “but 
never saw it before. Most navigators give it a wide berth. 
’Tis said to be the stormiest spot on the known earth !” 

“That’s a mistake, you may depend on’t, sir. The sow- 
westers blow great guns hereabouts, it is true enough; and 
when they do, sich a sea comes tumbling in on that rock as 
man never seed anywhere else, perhaps ; but, on the whull. I’d 
rather be close in here, than two hundred miles further to the 
southward. With the wind at sow-west, and heavy, a better 
slant might be made from the southern position ; but here I 
know where I am, and I’d go in and anchor, and wait for the 
gale to blow itself out.” 

“ Talking of seas. Captain Gar’ner,” observed Hazard, “ don’t 
you think, sir, we begin to feel the swell of the Pacific. Smooth 
as the surface of the water is, here is a ground-swell rolling in 
that must be twelve or fifteen feet in height.” 

“ There’s no doubt of that. We have felt the swell of the 
Pacific these two hours ; no man can mistake that The At- 
lantic has no such waves. This is an ocean in reality, and this 
is its stormiest part. The wind freshens and hauls, and I’m 


204 


THE SEA LIONS. 


afraid we are about to be caught close in here, with a regular 
sow-Avest gale.” 

“ Let it come, sir, let it come,” put in Stimson, again ; “ if it 
does, we’ve only to run in and anchor. I can stand pilot, and 
I promise to carry the schooner where twenty sow-Avesters will 
do her no harm. What I’ve seen done once, I know can be 
done again. The time Avill come Avhen the Horn will be a 
reg’lar harbor.” 

RosAvell left the forecastle, and walked aft, pondering on 
Avhat had just been said. His situation was delicate, and de- 
manded decision, as well as prudence. The manner in which 
Daggett had stuck by him, ever since the two vessels took their 
departure from Blok Island, is known to the reader. The 
Sea Lions had sailed from Rio in company, and they had 
actually made Staten Land together, the day preceding that on 
which Ave now bring the Oyster Pond craft once more upon the 
scene, and had closed so near as to admit of a conversation be- 
tween the two masters. It would seem that Daggett Avas ex- 
ceedingly averse to passing through the Straits of Le Maire. 
An uncle of his had been wrecked there, and had reported the 
passage as the most dangerous one he had ever encountered. 
It has its diiBSculties, no doubt, in certain states of the wind 
and tide ; but Roswell had received good accounts of the place 
from Stimson, who had been through several times. The wind 
was rather scant to go through, and the weather threatened to 
be thick. As Daggett urged his reasons for keeping off and 
passing outside of Staten Land, a circuit of considerable extent, 
besides bringing a vessel far to leeward with the preA^alent 
winds of that region, which usually blow from northwest round 
to southwest, Roswell was reflecting on the opportunity the cir- 
cumstances afforded of giAung his consort the slip. After dis- 
cussing the matter for some time, he desired Daggett to lead 
on, and he would follow. This Avas done, though neither 
schooner was kept off until Roswell got a good view of Cape 
St. Diego, on Tierra del Fuego, thereby enabling him to judge 


THE SEA LIONS. 


205 


of the positions of the principal land-marks. Without commit- 
ting himself by any promise, therefore, he told Daggett to lead 
on, and for some time he followed, the course being one that 
did not take him much out of the way. The weather was 
misty, and at times the wind blew in squalls. The last in- 
creased as the schooners drew nearer to Staten Land. Daggett, 
being about half a mile ahead, felt the full power of one partic- 
ular squall that came out of the ravines with greater force than 
common, and he kept away to increase his distance from the 
land. At the same time, the mist shut in the vessels from each 
other. It was also past sunset, and a dark and dreary night 
was approaching. This latter fact had been one of Daggett’s 
arguments for going outside. Profiting by all these circum- 
stances, Roswell tacked, and stood over towards Tierra del 
Fuego. He knew from the smoothness of the water that an 
ebb-tide was running, and trusted to its force to carry him 
through the Straits. He saw no more of the Sea Lion of the 
Vineyard. She continued shut in by the mist until night 
closed around both vessels. When he got about mid-channel, 
Roswell tacked again. By this time the current had sucked 
him fairly into the passage, and no sooner did he go about than 
his movement to the southward was very rapid. The squalls 
gave some trouble, but, on the whole, he did very well. Next 
morning he was off Cape Horn, as described. By this expres- 
sion, it is generally understood that a vessel is somewhere near 
the longitude of that world-renowned cape, but not necessarily 
in sight of it. Few navigators actually see the extremity of the 
American continent, though they double the cape, it being 
usually deemed the safest to pass well to the southward. Such 
was Daggett’s position ; who, in consequence of having gone 
outside of Staten Land, was now necessarily a long distance to 
leeward, and who could not hope to beat up abreast of the 
Hermits, even did the wind and sea favor him, in less than 
twenty-four hours. A great advantage was obtained by coming 
through the Straits of Le Maire, and Roswell felt very certain 


206 


THE SEA LIONS. 


that he should not see his late consort again that day, even did 
he heave-to for him. But our hero had no idea of doing any 
thing of the sort. Having shaken off his leech, he had no 
wish to suffer it to fasten to him again. It was solely with the 
intention of making sure of this object that he thought of 
making a harbor. 

In order that the reader may better understand those inci- 
dents of our narrative which we are about to relate, it may be 
well to say a word of the geographical features of the region to 
which he has been transported, in fiction, if not in fact. At the 
southern extremity of the American continent is a cluster of 
islands, which are dark, sterile, rocky, and most of the year 
covered with snow. Evergreens relieve the aspect of sterility, 
in places that are a little sheltered, and there is a meager vege- 
tation in spots that jserve to sustain animal life. The first 
strait which separates this cluster of islands from the main, is 
that of Magellan, through which vessels occasionally pass, in 
preference to going farther south. Then comes Tierra del 
Fuego, which is much the largest of all the islands. To the 
southward of Tierra del Fuego lies a cluster of many small 
islands, which bear different names ; though the group farthest 
south of all, and which it is usual to consider as the southern 
termination of our noble continent, but which is not on a con- 
tinent at all, is known by the appropriate appellation of the 
Hermits. If solitude, and desolation, and want, and a contem- 
plation of some of the sublimest features of this earth, can ren- 
der a spot fit for a hermitage, these islands are very judiciously 
named. The one that is farthest south contains the cape itself, 
which is marked by the ragged pyramid of rock already men- 
tioned ; placed there by nature, a never-tiring sentinel of the 
war of the elements. Behind this cluster of the Hermits it was 
that Stimson advised his officer to take refuge against the ap- 
proaching gale, of which the signs were now becoming obvious 
and certain. Roswell’s motive, however, for listening to such 
advice, was less to find a shelter for his schooner than to get 


THE SEA LIONS. 


207 


rid of Daggett. For the gale he cared but little, since he was 
a long way from the ice, and could stretch off the land to the 
southward into a waste of waters that seems interminable. 
There are islands to the southward of Cape Horn, and a good 
many of them too, though none very near. It is now known, 
also, by means of the toils and courage of various seamen, in- 
cluding those of the persevering and laborious Wilkes, the most 
industrious and the least rewarded of all the navigators who 
have ever worked for the human race in this dangerous and 
exhausting occupation, that a continent is there also ; but, at 
the period of which we are writing, the existence of the Shet- 
lands and Palmer’s Land was the extent of the later discoveries 
in that part of the ocean. After pacing the quarter-deck a few 
minutes, when he quitted the forecastle as mentioned, Roswell 
Gardiner again went forward among the men. 

“You are quite sure that this high peak is the Horn, Stim- 
son ?” he observed, inquiringly. 

“ Sartain of it, sir. There’s no mistaking sich a place, which, 
once seen, is never forgotten.” 

“ It agrees with the charts and our reckoning, and I may say 
it agrees with our eyes also. Here is the Pacific Ocean plain 
enough, Mr. Hazard.” 

“ So I think, sir. We are at the end of Ameriky, if it has 
an end anywhere. This heavy long swell is an old acquaint- 
ance, though I never was in close enough to see the land, here- 
abouts, before.” 

“ It is fortunate we have one trusty hand on board who can 
stand pilot. Stimson, I intend to go in and anchor, and I shall 
trust to you to carry me into a snug berth.” 

“ ni do it. Captain Gar’ner, if the weather will permit it,” 
returned the seaman, with an unpretending sort of confidence 
that spoke well for his ability. 

Preparations were now commenced in earnest, to come to. 
It was time that some steady course should be adopted, as the 
wind was getting up, and the schooner was rapidly approaching 


208 


THE SEA LIONS. 


the land. In half an hour the Sea Lion was bending to a little 
gale, with her canvas reduced to close-reefed mainsail and fore- 
sail, and the bonnet off her jib. The sea was fast getting up, 
though it came in long, and mountain-like. Roswell dreaded 
the mist Could he pass through the narrow channels that 
Stimson had described to him, with a clear sky, one half of his 
causes of anxiety would be removed. But the wind was not a 
clear one, and he felt that no time was to be lost. 

It required great nerve to approach a coast like that of Cape 
Horn in such weather. As the schooner got nearer to the real 
cape, the sight of the seas tumbling in and breaking on its 
ragged rock, and the hollow roaring sound they made, actually 
became terrific. To add to the awe inspired in the breast of 
even the most callous-minded man on board, came a doubt 
whether the schooner could weather a certain point of rock, the 
western extremity of the island, after she had got so far into a 
bight as to render waring questionable, if not impossible. 
Every one now looked grave and anxious. Should the schooner 
go ashore in such a place, a single minute would suflice to 
break her to pieces, and not a soul could expect to be saved. 
Roswell was exceedingly anxious, though he remained cool. 

“ The tides and eddies about these rocks, and in so high a 
latitude, sweep a vessel like chips,” he said to his chief mate. 
“We have been set in here by an eddy, and a terrible place 
it is.” 

“ All depends on our gears holding on, sir,” was the answer, 
“with a little on Providence. Just watch the point ahead. 
Captain Gar’ner ; though we are not actually to leeward of it, 
see with what a drift we have drawn upon it ! The manner in 
which these seas roll in from the sow-west is terrific ! No craft 
can go to windward against them.” 

This remark of Hazard’s was very just. The seas that came 
down upon the cape resembled a rolling prairie in their outline. 
A single wave would extend a quarter of a mile from trough to 
trough, and as it passed beneath the schooner, lifting her high 


THE SEA LIONS. 


209 


in the air, it really seemed as if the glancing water would sweep 
her away in its force. But human art had found the means to 
counteract even this imposing display of the power of nature. 
The little schooner rode over the billows like a duck, and when 
she sank between two of them, it was merely to rise again on 
a new summit, and breast the gale gallantly. It was the cur- 
rent that menaced the greatest danger ; for that, unseen except 
in its fruits, was clearly setting the little craft to leeward, and 
bodily towards the rocks. By this time our adventurers were 
so near the land that they almost gave up hope itself. Cape 
Hatteras, and its much-talked-of dangers, seemed a place of 
refuge compared to that in which our navigators now found 
themselves. Could the deepest bellowings of ten thousand 
bulls be united in a common roar, the noise would not have 
equalled that of the hollow sound which issued from a sea as 
it went into some cavern of the rocks. Then, the spray filled 
the air like driving rain, and there were minutes when the 
cape, though so frightfully near, was hid from view by the 
vapor. 

At this precise moment, the Sea Lion was less than a quarter 
of a mile to windward of the point she was struggling to 
weather, and towards which she was driving under a treble 
impetus ; that of the wind, acting on her sails, and pressing her 
ahead at the rate of fully five knots, for the craft was kept a 
rap full ; that of the eddy, or current, and that of the rolling 
waters. No man spoke, for each person felt that the crisis was 
one in which silence was a sort of homage to the Deity. Some 
prayed privately, and all gazed on the low rocky point that it 
was indispensable to pass, to avoid destruction. There was 
one favorable circumstance ; the water was known to be deep, 
quite close to the iron-bound coast, and it was seldom that any 
danger existed that it was not visible to the eye. This, Ros- 
well knew from Stimson’s accounts, as well as from those of 
other mariners, and he saw that the fact was of the last im- 
portance to him. Should he be able to weather the point 


210 


THE SEA LIONS. 


ahead, that which terminated at the mouth of the passage that 
led within the Hermits, it was now certain it could be done 
only by going fearfully near the rocks. 

Roswell Gardiner took his station between the knight-heads, 
beckoning to Stimson to come near him. At the same time, 
Hazard himself went to the helm. 

“Do you remember this place?” asked the young master of 
the old seaman. 

“ This is the spot, sir ; and if we can round the rocky point 
ahead, I will take you to a safe anchorage. Our drift is awful, 
or we are in an eddy- tide here, sir !” 

“ It is the eddy,” answered Roswell, calmly, “ though our 
drift is not trifling. This is getting frightfully near to that 
point !” 

“ Hold on, sir — it’s our only chance ; — hold on, and we may 
rub and go.” 

“ If we ru\ we are lost ; that is certain enough. Should we 
get by this first point, there is another a short distance beyond 
it, which must certainly fetch us up, I fear. See — it opens 
more, as we draw ahead.” 

Stimson saw the new danger, and fully appreciated it. He 
did not speak, however ; for, to own the truth, he now aban- 
doned all hope, and, being a piously-inclined person, he was 
privately addressing himself to God. Every man on board was 
fully aware of the character of this new danger, and all seemed 
to forget that of the nearest point of rock, towards which they 
were now wading with portentous speed. That point might be 
passed ; there was a little hope there ; but as to the point a 
quarter of a mile beyond, with the leeward set of the schooner, 
the most ignorant hand on board saw how unlikely it was that 
they should get by it. 

An imposing silence prevailed in the schooner, as she came 
abreast of the first rock. It was about fifty fathoms under the 
lee bow, and, as to that spot, all depended on the distance out- 
ward that the dangers thrust themselves. This it was impossi- 


THE SEA LIONS. 


211 


ble to see amid the chaos of waters produced by the collision 
between the waves and the land. Roswell fastened his eyes on 
objects ahead, to note the rate of his leeward set, and, with a 
seaman’s quickness, he noted the first change. 

“ She feels the under-tow, Stephen,” he said, in a voice so 
compressed as to seem to come out of the depths of his chest, 
“ and is breasted up to windward !” 

“ What means that sudden luff, sir ? Mr. Hazard must keep 
a good full, or we shall have no chance.” 

Gardiner looked aft, and saw that the mate was bearing the 
helm well up, as if he met with much resistance. The truth 
then flashed upon him, and he shouted out — 

“ All’s well, boys ! God be praised, we have caught the ebb- 
tide, under our lee-bow !” 

These few words ^explained the reason of the change. In- 
stead of setting to leeward, the schooner was now meeting a 
powerful tide of some four or five knots, which hawsed her up 
to windward with irresistible force. As if conscious of the dan- 
ger she was in, the tight little craft receded from the rocks as 
she shot ahead, and rounded that second point, which, a minute 
before, had appeared to be placed there purposely to destroy 
her. It was handsomely doubled, at the safe distance of a 
hundred fathoms. Roswell believed he might now beat his 
schooner off the land far enough to double the cape altogether, 
could he but keep her in that current. It doubtless expended 
itself, however, a short distance in the oflSng, as its waters dif- 
fused themselves on the breast of the ocean ; and it was this 
diffusion of the element that produced the eddy which had 
proved so nearly fatal. 

In ten minutes after striking the tide, the schooner opened 
the passage fairly, and was kept away to enter it. Notwith- 
standing it blew so heavily, the rate of sailing, by the land, did 
not exceed five knots. This was owing to the great strength 
of the tide, which sometimes rises and falls thirty feet, in high 
latitudes and narrow waters. Stimson now showed he was a 


212 


THE SEA LIONS. 


man to be relied on. Conning the craft intelligently, he took 
her in behind the island on which the cape stands, lulFed her 
up into a tiny cove, and made a cast of the lead. There were 
fifty fathoms of water, with a bottom of mud. With the cer- 
tainty that there was enough of the element to keep him clear 
of the ground at low water, and that his anchors would hold, 
Roswell made a flying moor, and veered out enough cable to 
render his vessel secure. 

Here, then, was the Sea Lion of Oyster Pond, that craft 
which the reader had seen lying at Deacon Pratt’s wharf, only 
three short months before, safely anchored in a nook of the 
rocks behind Cape Horn. No navigator but a sealer would 
have dreamed of carrying his vessel into such a place, but it 
is a part of their calling to poke about in channels and pas- 
sages where no one else has ever been. It was in this way 
that Stimson had learned to know where to find his present 
anchorage. The berth of the schooner was perfectly snug, 
and entirely land-locked. The tremendous swell that was 
rolling in on the outside, caused the waters to rise and fall 
a little within the passage, but there was no strain upon the 
cables in consequence. Neither did the rapid tides affect the 
craft, which lay in an eddy that merely kept her steady. The 
gale came howling over the Hermits, but was so much broken 
by the rocks as to do little more than whistle through the 
cordage and spars aloft. 

Three days, and as many nights, did the gale from the south- 
west continue. The fourth day there was a change, the wind 
coming from the eastward. Roswell would now have gone out, 
had it not been for the apprehension of falling in with Daggett 
again. Having at length gotten rid of that pertinacious com- 
panion, it would have been an act of great weakness to throw 
himself blindly in his way once more. . It was possible that 
Daggett might not suppose he had been left intentionally, in 
which case, he would be very apt to look for his lost consort in 
the vicinity of the cape. As for the gale, it might,^or it might 


THE SEA LIONS. 


213 


not, have blown him to leeward. A good deal would depend 
on the currents, and his distance to the southward. Near the 
land, Gardiner believed the currents favored a vessel doubling 
it, going west ; and if Daggett was also aware of this fact, it 
might induce him to keep as near the spot as possible. 

Time was very precious to our sealers, the season being so 
short in the high latitudes. Still, they were a little in advance 
of their calculations, having got off the Horn fully ten days 
sooner than they had hoped to be there. Nearly the whole 
summer was before them, and there was the possibility of their 
even being too soon for the loosening of the ice farther south. 
The wind was the strongest inducement to go out, for the point 
to which our adventurers were bound lay a considerable dis- 
tance to the westward, and fair breezes were not to be neg- 
lected. Under all the circumstances, however, it was decided 
to remain within the passage one day longer, and this so much 
the more, because Hazard had discovered some signs of sea- 
elephants frequenting an island at no great distance. The boats 
were lowered accordingly, and the mate went in one direction, 
while the master pulled up to the rocks, and landed on the 
Hermit, or the island which should bear that name, jpar excel- 
lence^ being that in which the group terminates. 

‘Taking Stimson with him, to carry a glass, and armed with 
an old lance as a pike-pole, to aid his efforts, Roswell Gardiner 
now commenced the ascent of the pyramid already mentioned. 
It was ragged, and offered a thousand obstacles, but none that 
vigor and resolution could not overcome. After a few minutes 
of violent exertion, and by helping each other in difficult places, 
both Roswell and Stimson succeeded in placing themselves on 
the summit of the elevation, which was an irregular peak. 
The height w’as considerable, and gave an extended view of the 
adjacent islands, as well as of the gloomy and menacing ocean 
to the southward. The earth, probably, does not contain a 
more remarkable sentinel than this pyramid on which our hero 
had now taken his station. There it stood, actually the Ultima 


214 


THE SEA LIONS. 


Thule of this vast coutineut, or, what was much the same, so 
closely united to it as to seem a part of our own moiety of the 
globe, looking out on the broad expanse of waters. The eye 
saw, to the right, the Pacific ; in front was the Southern, or 
Antarctic Ocean ; and to the left was the great Atlantic. For 
several minutes, both Roswell and Stephen sat mute, gazing on 
this grand spectacle. By turning their faces north, they beheld 
the highlands of Tierra del Fuego, of which many of the high- 
est peaks were covered with snow. The pyramid on which 
they were, however, was no longer white with the congealed 
rain, but stood, stern and imposing, in its native brown. The 
outlines of all the rocks, and the shores of the different islands, 
had an appearance of volcanic origin, though the rocks them- 
selves told a somewhat different story. The last was principally 
of trap formation. Cape pigeons, gulls, petrels, and albatross 
were wheeling about in the air, while the rollers that still came 
in on this noble sea-wall were really terrific. Distant thunder 
wants the hollow, bellowing sound that these waves made 
when brought in contact with the shores. Roswell fancied that 
it was like a groan of the mighty Pacific, at finding its pro- 
gress suddenly checked. The spray continued to fly, and, 
much of the time, the air below his elevated seat was filled 
with vapor. 

As soon as our young master had taken in the grander fea- 
tures of this magnificent view, his eyes sought the Sea Lion of 
Martha’s Vineyard. There she was, sure enough, at a distance 
of only a couple of leagues, and apparently standing directly 
for the Cape. Could it be possible that Daggett suspected his 
manoeuvre, and was coming in search of him, at the precise 
spot in which he had taken shelter ? As respects the vessel, 
there was no question as to her character. From the elevation 
at which he was placed, Roswell, aided by the glass, had no 
difficulty in making her out, and in recognizing her rig, form, 
and character. Stimson also examined her, and knew her to 
be the schooner. On that vast and desolate sea she resembled 


THE SEA LIONS. 


215 


a speck, but tbe art of man had enabled those she held to 
guide her safely through the tempest, and bring her up to her 
goal, in a time that really seemed miraculous for the circum- 
stances. 

“ If we had thought of it. Captain Gar’ner,” said Stephen, 
“ we might have brought up an ensign, and set it on these 
rocks, by way of letting the Vineyarders know where we are to 
be found. But we can always go out and meet them, should 
this wind stand.” 

“ Which is just what I have no intention of doing, Stephen. 
I came in here on purpose to get rid of that schooner.” 

“ You surprise me, sir ! A consort is no bad thing, when 
a craft is a sealin’ in a high latitude. The ice makes such 
ticklish times, that, for me, I’m always glad to know there is 
such a chance for taking a fellow off, should there happen to 
be a wrack.” 

“ All that is very true, but there are reasons which may tell 
i against it. I have heard of some islands where seals abound, 
and a consort is not quite so necessary to take them, as when 
one is wrecked.” 

I “ That alters the case. Captain Gar’ner. Nobody is obliged 
to tell of his sealing station. I was aboard one of the very first 
craft that found out that the South Shetlands was a famous 
i place for seals, and no one among us thought it necessary to 
! tell it to the world. Some men are weak enough to put sich 
; discoveries in the newspapers ; but, for my part, I think it quite 
enough to put them in the log.” 

“ That schooner must have the current with her, she comes 
down so fast. She’ll be abreast of the Horn in half an hour 
' longer, Stephen. We will wait, and see what she would be at.” 

Gardiner’s prediction was true. In half an hour, the Sea 
I Lion of Holmes’ Hole glided past the rocky pyramid of the 
' Horn, distant from it less than a mile. Had it been the object 
! of her commander to pass into the Pacific, he might have done 
: so with great apparent ease Even with a southwest wind. 


216 


THE SEA LIONS. 


that which blows fully half the time in those seas, it would have 
been in his power to lay past the islands, and soon get before 
it. A northeast course, with a little offing, will clear the 
islands, and when a vessel gets as far north as the main land, 
it would take her off the coast. 

But Daggett had no intention of doing any thing of the sort. 
He was looking for his consort, which he had hoped to find 
somewhere near the cape. Disappointed in this expectation, 
after standing far enough west to make certain nothing was in 
sight in that quarter, he hauled up on an easy bowline, and 
stood to the southward. Roswell was right glad to see this, 
inasmuch as it denoted ignorance of the position of the islands 
he sought. They lay much farther to the westward ; and no 
sooner was he sure of the course steered by the other schooner, 
than he hastened down to the boat, in order to get his own 
vessel under way, to profit by the breeze. 

Two hours later, the Sea Lion of Oyster Pond glanced through 
the passage which led into the ocean, on an ebb-tide. By that 
time, the other vessel had disappeared in the southern board ; 
and Gardiner came out upon the open waters again, boldly, and 
certain of his course. All sail was set, and the little craft 
slipped away from the land with the ease of an aquatic bird, 
that is plying its web-feet. Studding-sails were set, and the 
pyramid of the Horn soon began to lower in the distance, 
as the schooner receded. When night closed over the rolling 
waters, it was no longer visible, the vessel having fairly entered 
the Antarctic Ocean, if any thing north of the circle can prop- 
erly so be termed. 


THE SEA LIONS. 


21 '? 


CHAPTER XIV. 

“ All gone I ’tis ours the goodly land 

Look round — the heritage behold 1 
Go forth — upon the mountain stand ; 

Then, if you can, be cold.” 

Speagitk 

It was an enterprising and manly thing for a little vessel like 
the Sea Lion to steer with an undeviating course into the mys- 
terious depths of the antarctic circle — mysterious, far more in 
that day, than at the present hour. But the American sealer 
rarely hesitates. He has very little science, few charts, and 
those oftener old than new, knows little of what is going on 
among the savans of the earth, though his ear is ever open to 
the lore of men like himself, and he has his mind stored with 
pictures of islands and continents that would seem to have been 
formed for no other purpose than to meet the wants of the race 
of animals it is his business to pursue and to capture. Cape 
Horn and its vicinity have so long been frequented by this class 
of men, that they are at home among their islands, rocks, cur- 
rents, and sterility ; but, to the southward of the Horn itself, 
all seemed a waste. At the time of which we are writing, 
much less was known of the antarctic regions than is known 
to-day ; and even now our knowledge is limited to a few dreary 
outlines, in which barrenness and ice compete for the mastery. 
Wilkes, and his competitors, have told us that a vast frozen 
continent exists in that quarter of the globe ; but even their 
daring and perseverance have not been able to determine more 
than the general fact. 

We should be giving an exaggerated and false idea of Ros- 
10 


218 


THE SEA LIONS. 


well Gardiner’s character, did we say that he steered into that 
great void of the southern ocean in a total indifference to his 
destination and objects. Very much the reverse was his state 
of mind, as he saw the highland of the cape sink, as it might 
be foot by foot, into the ocean, and then lost sight of it alto- 
gether. Although the weather was fine for the region, it was 
dark and menacing. Such, indeed, is usually the case in that 
portion of this globe, which appears to be the favorite region of 
the storms. Although the wind was no more than a good 
breeze, and the ocean was but little disturbed, there were those 
symptoms in the atmosphere and in the long ground-swells 
that came rolling in from the southwest, that taught the mari- 
ner the cold lessons of caution. We believe that heavier gales 
of wind at sea are encountered in the warm than in the cold 
months ; but there is something so genial in the air of the 
ocean during summer, and something so chilling and repulsive 
in the rival season, that most of us fancy that the currents of 
air correspond in strength with the fall of the mercury. Ros- 
well knew better than this, it is true ; but he also fully under- 
stood where he was, and what he was about. As a sealer, he 
had several times penetrated as far south as the Ne Plus Ultra 
of Cook ; but it had ever before been in subordinate situations. 
This was the first time in which he had had the responsibility of 
command thrown on himself, and it was no more than natural 
that he should feel the weight of this new burden. So long as 
the Sea Lion of the Vineyard was in sight, she had presented a 
centre of interest and concern. To get rid of her had been his 
first care, and almost absorbing object; but, now that she 
seemed to be finally thrown out of his wake, there remained 
the momentous and closely approaching difficulties of the main 
adventure directly before his eyes. Roswell, therefore, was 
thoughtful and grave, his countenance offering no bad refiec- 
tion of the sober features of the atmosphere and the ocean. 

Although the season was that of summer, and the weather 
was such as is deemed propitious in the neighborhood of Cape 


THE SEA LIONS. 


219 


Horn a feeling of uncertainty prevailed over every other sensa- 
tion. To the southward a cold mistiness veiled the view, and 
every mile the schooner advanced appeared like penetrating 
deeper and deeper into regions that nature had hitherto with- 
held from the investigation of the mariner. Ice, and its dangeis, 
were known to exist a few degrees farther in that direction ; 
but islands also had been discovered, and turned to good ac- 
count by the enterprise of the sealers. 

It was truly a great thing for the Sea Lion of Oyster Pond 
to have thrown off her namesake of the Vineyard. It is true 
both vessels were still in the same sea, with a possibility of 
again meeting ; but, Roswell Gardiner was steeling onward to- 
wards a haven designated in degrees and minutes, while the 
other craft was most probably left to wander in uncertainty in 
that remote and stormy ocean. Our hero thought there was now 
very little likelihood of his again falling in with his late consort, 
and this so much the more, because the islands he sought were 
not laid down in the vicinity of any other known land, and 
were consequently out of the usual track of the sealers. This 
last circumstance was fully appreciated by our young naviga- 
tor, and gave him confidence of possessing its treasures to him- 
self, could he only find the place where nature had hid them. 

When the sun went down in that vast waste of water which 
lies to the southward of this continent, the little Sea Lion had 
fairly lost sight of land, and was riding over the long south- 
western ground-swell like a gull that holds its way steadily to- 
wards its nest. For many hours her course had not varied half 
a point, being as near as possible to south-southwest, which 
kept her a little off the wind. No sooner, however, did night 
come to shut in the view, than Roswell Gardiner went aft to 
the man at the helm, and ordered him to steer to the south- 
ward, as near as the breeze would conveniently allow. This 
was a material change in the direction of the vessel, and, 
should the present breeze stand, would probably place her, by 
the return of light, a good distance to the eastward of the point 


220 


THE SEA LIONS. 


she would otherwise have reached. Hitherto it had been Ros- 
well’s aim to drop his consort; but, now it was dark, and so 
much time had already passed and been improved since the 
other sehooner was last seen, he believed he might venture to 
steer in the precise direction he desired to go. The season is 
so short in those seas, that every hour is precious, and no more 
variation from a real object could be permitted than circum- 
stances imperiously required. It was now generally understood 
that the craft was making the best of her way towards her des- 
tined sealing-ground. 

Independently of the discoveries of the regular explorers, a 
great deal of information has been obtained from the sealers 
themselves within the present century, touching the antarctic 
seas. It is thought that many a headland, and various islands, 
that have contributed their shares in procuring the accolades 
for different European navigators, were known to the adventur- 
ers from Stonington and other by-ports of this country, long 
before science ever laid its eyes upon them, or monarchs their 
swords on the shoulders of their secondary discoverers. 

That divers islands existed in this quarter of the ocean was 
a fact recognized in geography long before the Sea Lion was 
thought of; probably before her young master was actually 
born; but the knowledge generally possessed on the subject 
was meager and unsatisfactory. In particular cases, neverthe- 
less, this remark would not apply, there being at that moment 
on board our little schooner several mariners who had often 
visted the South Shetlands, New Georgia, Palmer’s Land, and 
other known places in those seas. Not one of them all, how- 
ever, had ever heard of any island directly south of the present 
position of the schooner. 

No material change occurred during the night, or in the 
course of the succeeding day, the little Sea Lion industriously 
holding her way towards the south pole ; making very regularly 
her six knots each hour. By the time she was thirty-six hours 
from the Horn, Gardiner believed himself to be fully three de- 


THE SEA LIONS. 


221 


grees to the southward of it, aud consequently some dis- 
tance within the parallel of sixty degrees south. Palmer’s 
Land, with its neighboring islands, would have been near, 
had not the original course carried the schooner so far to 
the westward. As it was, no one could say what lay before 
them. 

The third day out, the wind hauled, and it blew heavily from 
the northeast. This gave the adventurers a great run. The 
blink of ice was shortly seen, and soon after ice itself, drifting 
about in bergs. The floating hills were grand objects to the 
eye, rolling and wallowing in the seas ; but they were much 
worn and melted by the wash of the ocean, and comparatively 
of greatly diminished size. It was now absolutely necessary to 
lose most of the hours of darkness, it being much too danger- 
ous to run in the night. The great barrier of ice was known 
to be close at hand ; and Cook’s “ Ne Plus Ultra,” at that time 
the great boundary of antarctic navigation, was near the paral- 
lel of latitude to which the schooner had reached. The weath- 
er, however, continued very favorable, and after the blow from 
the northeast, the wind came from the south, chill, and attended 
with flurries of snow, but suflSciently steady and not so fresh as 
to compel our adventurers to carry very short sail. The smooth- 
ness of the water would of itself have announced the vicinity of 
ice : not only did Gardiner’s calculations tell him as much as 
this, but his eyes confirmed their results. In the course of the 
fifth day out, on several occasions when the weather cleared a 
Jittle, glimpses were had of the ice in long mountainous walls, 
resembling many of the ridges of the Alps, though moving 
heavily under the heaving and setting of the restless waters. 
Dense fogs, from time to time, clouded the whole view, and 
the schooner was compelled, more than once that day, to 
heave-to, in order to avoid running on the sunken masses of 
ice, or fields, of which many of vast size now began to make 
their appearance. 

Notwithstanding the dangers that surrounded our adventur- 


222 


THE SEA LIONS. 


ers, they were none of them so insensible to the sublime powers 
of nature as to withhold their admiration from the many glori- 
ous objects which that lone and wild scene presented. The 
icebergs were of all the hues of the rainbow, as the sunlight 
gilded their summits or sides, or they were left shaded by the 
interposition of dark and murky clouds. There were instances 
when certain of the huge frozen masses even appeared to be 
quite black, in particular positions and under peculiar lights ; 
while others, at the same instant, were gorgeous in their gleams 
of emerald and gold ! 

The aquatic birds, also, had now become numerous again. 
Penguins were swimming about, filling the air with their dis- 
cordant cries, while there was literally no end of the cape- 
pigeons and petrels. Albatrosses, too, helped to make up the 
picture of animated nature, while whales were often heard blow- 
ing in the adjacent waters. Gardiner saw many signs of the 
proximity of land, and began to hope he should yet actually 
discover the islands laid down on his chart, as their position 
had been given by Daggett. 

In that high latitude a degree of longitude is necessarily 
much shorter than when nearer to the middle of our orb. On 
the equator, a degree of longitude measures, as is known to 
most boarding-school young ladies, just sixty geographical, or 
sixty-nine and a half English statute miles. But, as is not 
known to most boarding-school young ladies, or is understood 
by very few of them indeed, even when known, in the sixty- 
second degree of latitude, a degree of longitude measures but 
little more than thirty-two of those very miles. The solution 
of this seeming contradiction is so very simple that it may as- 
sist a certain class of our readers if we explain it, by telling 
them that it arises solely from the fact that these degrees of 
longitude, which are placed sixty geographical miles asunder at 
the centre or middle of the earth, converge towards the poles, 
where they all meet in a point. According to the best obser- 
vations Roswell Gardiner could obtain, he was just one of these 


THE SEA LIONS. 


223 


short degrees of longitude, or two-and-thirty miles, to the west- 
ward of the parallel where he wished to be, when the wind 
came from the southward. The change was favorable, as it 
emboldened him to run nearer than he otherwise might have 
felt disposed to do, to the great barrier of ice which now formed 
a sort of weather-shore. Fortunately, the loose bergs and 
sunken masses had drifted off so far to the northward, that 
once within them the schooner had pretty plain sailing; and 
Roswell, to lose none of the precious time of the season, ven- 
tured to run, though under very short canvas, the whole of the 
short night that succeeded. It is a great assistance to the 
navigation of those seas that, during the summer months, there 
is scarcely any night at all, giving the adventurer sufficient 
light by which to thread his way among the difficulties of his 
pathless journey. 

When the sun reappeared, on the morning of the sixth day 
after he had left the Horn, Roswell Gardiner believed himself 
to be far enough west for his purposes. It now remained to 
get a whole degree farther to the south, which was a vast dis- 
tance in those seas and in that direction, and would carry 
him a long way to the southward of the “ Ne Plus Ultra.” If 
there was any truth in Daggett, however, that mariner had 
been there ; and the instructions of the owner rendered it in- 
cumbent on our young man to attempt to follow him. More 
than once, that morning, did our hero regret he had not en- 
tered into terms with the Vineyard men, that the effort might 
have been made in company. There was something so por- 
tentous in a lone vessel’s venturing within the ice, in so remote 
a region, that, to say the truth, Roswell hesitated. But pride 
of profession, ambition, love of Mary, dread of the deacon, na- 
tive resolution, and the hardihood produced by experience in 
dangers often encountered and escaped, nerved him to the un- 
dertaking. It must be attempted, or the voyage would be lost ; 
and our young mariner now set about his task with a stern de- 
termination to achieve it. 


224 


THE SEA LIONS. 


By this time the schooner had lulfed up within a cable’s 
length of the ice, along the margin of which she was running 
under easy sail. Gardiner believed himself to be quite as far to 
the westward as was necessary, and his present object was to 
find an opening, by means of which he could enter among the 
floating chaos that was spread, far and wide, to windward. As 
the breeze was driving the drifting masses to the northward, 
they became loosened and more separated every moment ; and 
glad enough was Gardiner to discover, at length, a clear spot 
that seemed to favor his views. Without an instant’s delay, 
the sheets were flattened in, a pull was taken on the braces, 
and away went the little Sea Lion into a passage that had a 
hundred-fold more real causes of terror than the Scylla and 
Charybdis of old. 

One effect of the vicinity of ice, in extensive fields, is to pro- 
duce comparatively still water. It must blow a gale, and that 
over a considerable extent of open sea, to produce much com- 
motion among the fields and bergs, though that heaving and 
setting, which has been likened to the respiration of some 
monster, and which seamen call the “ground-swell,” is never 
entirely wanting among the waters of an ocean. On the pres- 
ent occasion, our adventurers were favored in this respect, their 
craft gliding forward unimpeded by any thing like opposing 
billows. At the end of four hours, the schooner, tacking and 
waring when necessary, had worked her way to the southward 
and westward, according to her master’s reckoning, some five- 
and-twenty miles. It was then noon, and the atmosphere be- 
ing unusually clear, though never without fog, Gardiner went 
aloft, to take a look for himself at the condition of things 
around him. 

To the northward, and along the very passage by which the 
vessel had sailed, the ice was closing, and it was far easier to 
go on than to return. To the eastward, and towards the south- 
east in particular, however, did Roswell Gardiner turn his long- 
ing eyes. Somewhere in that quarter of the ocean, and dis- 


THE SEA LIONS. 


225 


tant now less than ten leagues, did he expect to find the islands 
of which he was in quest, if indeed they had any existence at 
all. In that direction there were many passages open among 
the ice, the latter being generally higher than in the particular 
place to which the vessel had reached. Once or twice, Ros- 
well mistook the summits of some of these bergs for real moun- 
tains, when, owing to the manner in which the light fell upon 
^hem, or rather did not fall upon them directly, they appeared 
dark and earthy. Each time, however, the sun’s rays soon 
came to undeceive him ; and that which had so lately been 
black and frowning, was, as by the touch of magic, suddenly 
illuminated, and became bright and gorgeous, throwing out its 
emerald hues, or perhaps a virgin white, that filled the beholder 
with delight, even amid the terrors and dangers by which, in 
very truth, he was surrounded. The glorious Alps themselves, 
those wonders of the earth, could scarcely compete in scenery 
with the views that nature lavished, in that remote sea, on a 
seeming void. But the might and honor of God were there, as 
well as beneath the equator. 

For one whole hour did Roswell Gardiner remain in the 
cross-trees, having hailed the deck, and caused the schooner’s 
head to be turned to the southeast, pressing her through the 
openings as near the wind as she could go. The atmosphere 
was never without fog, though the vapor drifted about, leaving 
large vacancies that were totally clear. One spot, in particu- 
lar, seemed to be a favorite resting-place for these low clouds, 
which just there appeared to light upon the face of the ocean 
itself. A wide field of ice, or, it were better to say, a broad 
belt of bergs, lay between this stationary cloud and the schooner, 
though the existence of the vapor early caught Roswell’s atten- 
tion; and during the hour he was aloft, conning the craft 
through a very intricate and ticklish channel, not a minute 
passed that the young man did not turn a look towards that 
veiled spot. He was in the act of placing a foot on the ratlin 
below him, to descend to the deck, when he half-unconsciously 

10 ^ 


226 


THE SEA LIONS. 


turned to take a last glance at this distant and seemingly im- 
movable object. Just then, the vapor, which had kept rolling 
and moving, like a fluid in ebullition, while it still clung to- 
gether, suddenly opened, and the bald head of a real mountain, 
a thousand feet high, came unexpectedly into the view ! There 
could be no mistake ; all was too plain to admit of a doubt. 
There, beyond all question, was land ; and it was doubtless the 
most western of the islands described by the dying seaman. 
Every thing corroborated this conclusion. The latitude and 
longitude were right, or nearly so, and the other circumstances 
went to confirm the conjecture, or conclusion. Daggett had 
said that one island, high, mountainous, ragged, and bleak, but 
of some size, lay the most westerly in the group, while several , 
others were within a few miles of it. The last were lower, I 
much smaller, and little more than naked rocks. One of these j 
last, however, he insisted on it, was a volcano in activity, and 4 
that, at intervals, it emitted flames as well as a fierce heat. By 
his account, however, the party to which he belonged had j 
never actually visited that volcanic cauldron, being satisfied , 
with admiring its terrors from a distance. ! 

As to the existence of the land, Roswell got several pretty 
distinct and certain views, leaving no doubt of its character and 
position. There is a theory which tells us that the orb of day 
is surrounded by a luminous vapor, the source of heat and I 
light, and that this vapor, being in constant motion, occasion- j 
ally leaves the mass of the planet itself to be seen, forming ) 
what it is usual to term the “ spots on the sun.” Resembling j 
this theory, the fogs of the antarctic seas rolled about the 1 
mountain now seen, withdrawing the curtain at times, and per- J 
mitting a view of the striking and majestic object within. Well 
did that lone and nearly barren mass of earth and rock merit 
these appellations ! The elevation has already been given ; 
and a rock that is nearly perpendicular, rising out of the ocean 
for a thousand feet, is ever imposing and grand. This was 
rendered so much the more so by its loneliness, its stable and 


THE SEA LIONS. 


227 


stern position amid floating and moving mountains of ice, its 
brown sides and bald summit, the latter then recently whitened 
with a fall of pure snow, and its frowning and fixed aspect 
amid a scene that might otherwise be said to be ever in 
motion. 

Roswell Gardiner’s heart beat with delight when assured of 
success in discovering this, the first great goal of his destina- 
tion. To reach it was now his all-absorbing desire. By this 
time the wind had got got round to the southwest, and was 
blowing quite fresh, bringing him well to windward of the 
mountain, but causing the icebergs to drift in towards the land, 
and placing an impassable barrier along its western shore. Om’ 
young man, however, remembered that Daggett had given the 
anchorage as on the northeastern side of the island, where, ac- 
cording to his statements, a little haven would be found, in 
which a dozen craft might lie in security. To this quarter of 
the island Gardiner consequently endeavored to get. 

There was no opening to the northward, but a pretty good 
channel w^as before the schooner to the southward of the group. 
In this direction, then, the Sea Lion was steered, and by eight 
bells (four in the afternoon) the southern point of the largest 
island was doubled. The rest of the group were made, and to 
the infinite delight of all on board her, abundance of clear 
water was found between the main island and its smaller 
neighbors. The bergs had grounded apparently, as they drew 
near the group, leaving this large bay entirely free from ice, 
wdth the exception of a few small masses that were floating 
through it. These bodies, whether field or berg, were easily 
avoided ; and away the schooner went, with flowing sheets, into 
the large basin formed by the different members of the group. 
To render “ assurance doubly sure,” as to the information of 
Daggett, the smoke of a volcano arose from a rock to the 
eastward, that appeared to be some three or four miles in 
circumference, and which stood on the eastern side of the 
great basin, or some four leagues from Sealer’s Land, as Dag- 


228 


THE SEA LIONS. 


gett had at once named the principal island. This was, in fact, 
about the breadth of the main basin, which had two principal 
passages into it, the one from the south and the other from the 
northeast. 

Once within the islands, and reasonably clear of all ice, it 
was an easy thing for the schooner to run across the basin, or 
great bay, and reach the northeastern extremity of Sealer’s 
Land. As the light would continue some hours longer, there 
being very little night in that high latitude in December, the 
month that corresponds to our June, Roswell caused a boat to 
be lowered and manned, when he pulled at once towards the 
spot where it struck him the haven must be found, if there 
were any such place at all. Every thing turned out as it had 
been described by Daggett, and great was our young man’s sat- 
isfaction when he rowed into a cove that was little more than 
two hundred yards in diameter, and which was so completely 
land-locked as not to feel the influence of any sea outside. In 
general, the great difficulty is to land on any of the antarctic 
rocks, the breakers and surf opposing it ; but, in this spot, the 
smallest boat could be laid with its bows on a beach of shingles, 
without the slightest risk of its being injured. The lead also 
announced good anchorage in about eight fathoms of water. 
In a word, this little haven was one of those small basins that 
so often occur in mountainous islands, where fragments of rock 
appear to have fallen from the principal mass as it was forced 
upward out of the ocean, as if purposely intended to meet the 
wants of mariners. 

Nor was the outer bay, or the large basin formed by the en- 
tire group, by any means devoid of advantages to the navigator. 
From north to south this outer bay was at least six leagues in 
length, while its breadth could not much have fallen short of 
four. Of course it was much more exposed to the winds and 
waves than the little harbor proper, though Roswell was struck 
with the great advantages it offered in several essential particu- 
lars. It was almost clear of ice, while so much was floating 


THE SEA LIONS. 


229 


about outside of the circle of islands ; thus leaving a free navi- 
gation in it for even the smallest boat. This was mainly owing 
to the fact that the largest island had two long crescent-shaped 
capes, the one at its northeastern and the other at its southeast- 
ern extremity, giving to its whole eastern side the shape of a 
new moon. The harbor just described was to the southward 
of, or within the northeastern cape, which our young master 
at once named Cape Hazard, in honor of his chief mate’s 
vigilance ; that officer having been the first to point out the 
facilities probably ofifered by the formation of the land for an 
anchorage. 

Though rocky and broken, it was by no means difficult to 
ascend the rugged banks on the northern side of the harbor, 
and Gardiner went up it, attended by Stimson, who of late had 
much attached himself to the person of his commander. The 
height of this barrier above the waves of the ocean was but a 
little less than a hundred feet, and when the summit was 
reached, a common exclamation of surprise, not to say delight, 
broke from the lips of both. Hitherto not a seal of any sort 
had been seen, and Gardiner had felt some misgivings touching 
the benefits that were to be derived from so much hardship, 
exposure, and enterprise. All doubts, however, vanished, the 
instant he got a sight of the northern shore of the island. 
This shore, a reach of several miles in extent, was fairly alive 
with the monsters of which he was in search. They lay in 
thousands on the low rocks that lined that entire side of the 
island, basking in the sun of the antarctic seas. There they 
were, sure enough ! Sea lions, sea elephants, huge, clumsy, 
fierce-looking and revolting creatures, belonging properly to 
neither sea nor land. These animals were constantly going 
and coming in crowds, some waddling to the margin of the 
rocks and tumbling into the ocean in search of food, while 
others scrambled out of the water, and got upon shelves and 
other convenient places to repose and enjoy the light of day. 
There was very little contention or fighting among these revolt- 


230 


THE SEA LIONS. 


ing-looking creatures, though nearly every known species of 
the larger seals was among them. 

“ There is famous picking for us, master Stephen,” said Ros- 
well to his companion, fairly rubbing his hands in delight. 
“One month’s smart work will fill the schooner, and we can be 
off before the equinox. Does it not seem to you that yonder 
are the bones of sea lions, or of seals of some sort, lying here- 
away, as if men had been at work on the creatures ?” 

“ No doubt on’t at all. Captain Gar’ner ; as much out of the 
way as this island is — and I never heard of the place afore, old 
a sealer as I am — but, as much out of the way as it is, we are 
not the first to find it. Somebody has been here, and that 
within a year or two ; and he has picked up a cargo, too, de- 
pend on’t.” 

As all this merely corresponded with Daggett’s account of 
the place, Roswell felt no surprise ; on the contrary, he saw in 
it a confirmation of all that Daggett had stated, and as furnish- 
ing so much the more reason to hope for a successful termina- 
tion to the voyage in all its parts. While on the rocks, Ros- 
well took such a survey of the localities as might enable him 
to issue his orders hereafter with discretion and intelligence. 
The schooner was already making short tacks to get close in 
with the island, in obedience to a signal to that effect ; and the 
second mate had pulled out to the entrance of the little haven, 
with a view to act as pilot. Before the captain had descended 
from the summit of the northern barrier, the vessel came in 
under her jib, the wind being nearly aft, and she dropped two 
anchors in suitable spots, making another fiying moor of it. 

General joy now illuminated every face. It was, in itself, a 
great point gained to get the schooner into a perfectly safe 
haven, where her people could take their natural rest at night, 
or during their watches below, without feeling any apprehen- 
sion of being crushed in the ice ; but here was not only securi- 
ty, but the source of that wealth of which they were in quest, 
and which had induced them all to encounter so many priva- 


THE SEA LIONS. 


231 


tions and so much danger. The crew landed to a man, each 
individual ascending to the summit of the barrier, to feast his 
eyes on the spectacle that lay spread in such affluent abun- 
dance, along the low rocks of the northern side of the island. 

As there were yet several hours of light remaining, Roswell, 
still attended by Stimson, each armed with a sealing-spear or 
lance, not only as a weapon of defence, but as a leaping-staff, 
set out to climb as high up the central acclivity of the island 
as circumstances would allow him to go. He was deceived in 
the distances, however, and soon found that an entire day 
would be necessary to achieve such an enterprise, could it be 
performed at all ; but he did succeed in reaching a low spur of 
the central mountain that commanded a wide and noble view 
of all that lay to the north and east of it. From this height, 
which must have been a few hundred feet above the level of 
the ocean, our adventurers got a still better view of the whole 
north coast, or of what might have been called the sealing- 
quarter of the island. They also got a tolerably accurate idea 
of the general formation of that lone fragment of rock and 
earth, as well as of the islets and islands that lay in its vicinity. 
The outline of the first was that of a rude, and of course an 
irregular triangle, the three principal points of which were the 
two low capes already mentioned, and a third that lay to the 
northward and westward. The whole of the western or south- 
western shore seemed to be a nearly perpendicular wall of rock, 
that, in the main, rose some two or three hundred feet above 
the ocean. Against this side of the island in particular, the 
waves of the ocean were sullenly beating, while the ice drove 
up “home,” as sailors express it ; showing a vast depth of water. 
On the two other sides it was different. The winds prevailed 
most from the southwest, which rendered the perpendicular face 
of the island its weather-wall ; while the two other sides of the 
triangle were more favored by position. The north side, of 
course, lay most exposed to the sun, every thing of this nature 
being reversed in the southern hemisphere from what we have 


232 


THE SEA LIONS. 


it in the northern ; while the eastern or northeastern side, to he 
precisely accurate, was protected by the group of islands that 
lay in its front. Such was the general character of Sealer’s 
Land, so far as the hurried observations of its present master 
enabled him to ascertain. The near approach of night induced 
him now to hasten to get off of the somewhat dangerous accliv- 
ities to which he had climbed, and to rejoin his people and his 
schooner. 


THE SEA LIONS. 


233 


CHAPTER XV. 

“ Ye dart upon the deep, and straight is heard 
A wilder roar ; and men grow pale, and pray : 

Ye fling its waters round you, as a bird 
Flings o’er his shivering plumes the fountain’s spray. 

See ! to the breaking mast the sailor clings ! 

Ye scoop the ocean to its briny springs, 

And take the mountain billows on your wings. 

And pile the wreck of navies round the bay.” 

Bryant’s Winds. 

No unnecessary delay was permitted to interfere with the 
one great purpose of the sealers. The season was so short, and 
the difficulties and dangers of entering among and of quitting 
the ice were so very serious, that every soul belonging to the 
schooner felt the importance of activity and industry. The 
very day that succeeded the vessel’s arrival, not only was great 
progress made in the preliminary arrangements, but a goodly 
number of fur-seals, of excellent quality, were actually killed 
and secured. Two noble sea elephants were also lanced, ani- 
mals that measured near thirty feet in length, each of which 
yielded a very ample return, for the risk and trouble of taking 
it, in oil. The skins of the fur-seals, however, were Roswell’s 
principal object ; and glad enough was he to find the creature 
that pays this tribute to the wants and luxuries of man, in 
numbers sufficient to promise him a speedy return to the 
northward. While the slaughter, and skinning, and curing, 
and trying out were all in active operation, our young man 
paid some attention to certain minor arrangements, which had 
a direct bearing on the comforts of his people, as well as the 
getting in of cargo. 

An old storehouse, of respectable size, had stood on the dea- 


234 


THE SEA LIONS 


con’s wharf, wliile the schooner was fitting out, but it had been 
taken to pieces, in order to make room for a more eligible sub- 
stitute. The materials of this building Roswell Gardiner had 
persuaded his owner to send on board, and they had all been 
received and stowed away, a part below and a part on deck, as 
a provision for the possible wants of the people. As it was 
necessary to clear the decks and break out the hold, all these 
materials, consisting principally of the timbers of the frame, the 
siding, and a quantity of planks and boards, were now floated 
ashore in the cove, and hauled up on the rocks. Roswell took 
a leisure moment to select a place for the site of his building, 
which he intended to erect at once, in order to save the time 
that would otherwise be lost in pulling between the schooner 
and the shore. 

It was not difficult to find the sort of spot that was desirable 
for the dwelling. That chosen by Gardiner was a shelf of rock 
of sufficient extent, that lay perfectly exposed to the north and 
northeast, or to the sunny side of the island, while it was 
sheltered from the south and southwest by masses of rock, that 
formed a complete protection against the colder winds of the 
region. These walls of stone, however, were not sufficiently near 
to permit any snows they might collect to impend over the 
building, but enough space was left between them and the house, 
to admit of a capacious yard, in which might be placed any 
articles that were necessary to the ordinary work, or to the 
wants of the sealers. 

Had it been advisable to set all hands at the business of 
slaughtering, Roswell Gardiner certainly would not have lost 
the time he did, in the erection of his house. But our master 
was a judicious and wary commander at his calling. The seals 
were now perfectly tame, and nothing was easier than to kill 
them in scores. The great difficulty was in removing the 
spoils across the rocks, as it was sometimes necessary to do so 
for a distance of several miles. Means were found, in the end, 
to use the boats on this service, though even then, at midsum- 


THE SEA LIONS. 


235 


mer, the northern shore of the island was frequently so closely 
beset by the ice as completely to block up the passage. This, 
too, occurred at times when the larger bay was nearly free, and 
the cove, which went by the name of the “ Deacon’s Bight” 
among the men, was entirely so. In order to prevent a prema- 
ture panic among the victims of this intended foray, then, Gar- 
diner allowed no one to go out to “ kill” but the experienced 
hands, and no more to be slain each day than could be skinned 
or cut up at that particular time. In consequence of this pru- 
dent caution, the work soon got into a regular train ; and it was 
early found that more was done in this mode, than could have 
been effected by a less guarded assault on the seals. 

As for the materials of the building, they were hauled up the 
rocks without much difficulty. The frame was of some size, as 
is the case generally with most old constructions in America ; 
but being of pine, thoroughly seasoned, the sills and plates were 
not so heavy but that they might be readily enough handled 
by the non-sealing portion of the crew. Robert Smith, the 
landsman, was a carpenter by trade, and it fell to his lot to put 
together again the materials of the old warehouse. Had there 
not been such a mechanic among the crew, however, a dozen 
Americans could, at any time, construct a house, the “ rough 
and ready” habits of the people usually teaching them, in a 
rude way, a good deal of a great many other arts, besides this 
of the carpenter. Mott had served a part of his time with a 
blacksmith, and he now set up his forge. When the frame was 
ready, all hands assembled to assist in raising it ; and, by the 
end of the first week, the building was actually inclosed, the 
labor amounting to no more than putting each portion in its 
place, and securing it there, the saw being scarcely used during 
the whole process. This building had two apartments, one of 
which Gardiner appropriated to the uses of a sitting-room, and 
the other to that of a dormitory. Rough bunks were con- 
structed, and the mattresses of the men were all brought ashore, 
and put in the house. It was intended that everybody should 


236 


THE SEA LIONS. 


sleep in the building, as it would save a great deal of going to 
and fro, as well as a great deal of time. Ihe cargo was to be 
collected on a shelf of rock, that lay about twenty feet below 
that on which the building stood ; by following which, it was 
possible to turn the highest point of the pass, that which formed 
the southern protection of the building, and come out on the 
side of the cove at another shelf, that was not more than fifty 
feet above the level of the vessel’s decks. Down this last de- 
clivity, Roswell proposed to lower his casks by means of a pro- 
jecting derrick, the rock being sufficiently precipitous to admit 
of this arrangement, while his spare spars furnished him with 
the necessary means. Thus was every preparation made with 
judgment and foresight. 

In this manner did the first ten days pass, every man and boy 
being as busy as bees. To own the truth, no attention was 
paid to the Sabbath, which would seem to have been left be- 
hind them by the people, among the descendants of those Pu- 
ritans who were so rigid in their observance of that festival. 
At the end of the time just mentioned, a great deal had been 
done. The house, such as it w^as, was completed. To be sure, 
it was nothing but an old storehouse revamped, but it was 
found to be of infinite service, and greatly did all hands felici- 
tate themselves at having brought its materials along with them. 
Even those who had most complained of the labor of getting 
the timbers on board, had the most often cursed them for being 
in the way, during the passage, and had continued the loudest 
to deride the idea of “ sealers turning carpenters,” were shortly 
willing to allow that the possession of this dwelling was of the 
greatest value to them, and that, so far from the extra work’s 
causing them to fall behind in their main operations, the com- 
fort they found, in having a home like this to go to, after along 
day’s toil, refreshed them to a degree which enabled every man 
to return to his labor, with a zeal and an energy that might 
otherwise have been wanting. Although it was in the warm- 
est season of the year, and the nights could scarcely be called 


THE SE Elions. 


2S7 


nights at all, yet the sun never got very low without leaving a 
chilliness in the air that would have rendered sleeping without 
a cover and a protection from the winds, not only excessively 
uncomfortable, but somewhat dangerous. Indeed, it was often 
found necessary to light a fire in the old warehouse. This was 
done by means of a capacious box-stove, that was almost as old 
as the building itself, and which had also been brought along 
as an article of great necessity in that climate. Fuel could not 
be wanting, so long as the “ scraps” from the try-works abound- 
ed, and there were many more of these than were needed to 
“ try out” the sea-elephant oil. The schooner, however, had a 
very ample supply of wood to burn, that being an article which 
abounded on Shelter Island, and which the deacon had con- 
sented to lay in, in some abundance. Gardiner got this con- 
cession out of the miserly temperament of the old man, by per- 
suading him that a sealer could not work to any advantage, 
unless he had the means of occasionally warming himself. The 
miserly propensities of the deacon were not so engrossing that 
he did not comprehend the wisdom of making sufficient outlay 
to secure the execution of his main object ; and among other 
things of this nature, the schooner had sailed with a very large 
supply of wood, as has just been stated. Wood and onions, 
indeed, were more abundant in her than any other stores. 

The arrangements described were completed by the end of 
the first fortnight, during which period the business of sealing 
was also carried on with great industry and success. So very 
tame were the victims, and so totally unconscious of the danger 
they incurred from the presence of man, that the crew moved 
round among them, seemingly but very little observed, and not 
at all molested. The utmost care was taken to give no unne- 
cessary alarm ; and when an animal was lanced, it was done in 
such a quiet way as to produce as little commotion as possible. 
By the end of the time named, however, the sealing had got 
so advanced as to require the aid of all hands in securing the 
spoils. To work, then, everybody went, with a hearty good 


238 


THE SEA LIONS. 


will ; and the shelf of rock just below the house was soon well 
garnished with casks and skins. Had the labor been limited to 
the mere killing, and skinning, and curing, and barreling of 
oil, it would have been comparatively quite light ; but the ne- 
cessity of transporting the fruits of all this skill and luck con- 
siderable distances, in some cases several miles, and this over 
broken rocks, formed the great obstacle to immediate success. 
It was the opinion of Roswell Gardiner, that he could have 
filled his schooner in a month, were it possible to place her di- 
rectly alongside of the rocks fi-equented by the seals, and pre- 
vent all this toil in transporting. This, however, was impossi- 
ble, the waves and the ice rendering it certain destruction to 
lay a craft anywhere along the northern shore of the island. 
The boats might be, and occasionally they were used, bringing 
loads of skin and oil round the cape, quite into the cove. These 
little cargoes were immediately transferred to the hold of the 
schooner, a ground tier of large casks having been left in her 
purposely to receive the oil, which was emptied into them by 
means of a hose. By the end of the third week, this ground 
tier was filled, and the craft became stiff, and was in good bal- 
last trim, although the spare water was now entirely pumped 
out of her. 

All this time the weather was very fair for so high a latitude, 
and every way propitious. The twenty-third day after the 
schooner got in, Roswell was standing on a spur of the hill, at 
no great distance from the house, overlooking the long reach 
of rocky coast over which the “ sea elephants,” and “ lions,” 
and “ dogs,” and “ bears,” were waddling in as much seeming 
security as the hour when he first saw them. The sun was 
just rising, and the seals were clambering up out of the water 
to enjoy its warm rays, as they placed themselves in positions 
favorable to such a purpose. 

“ That is a pleasant sight to a true sealer. Captain Gar’ner,” 
observed Stimson, who as usual had kept near his officer, “ and 
one that I can say I never before saw equalled. I’ve been in 


THE SEA LIONS. 


239 


this business now some five-and-twenty years, and never be- 
fore have I met with so safe a harbor for a craft, and so 
large herds that have not been stirred up and got to be 
skeary.” 

“ We have certainly been very fortunate thus far, Stephen, 
and I am now in hopes we may fill up and be off in good sea- 
son to get clear of the ice,” returned Roswell. “ Our luck has 
been surprising, all things considered.” 

“ You call it luck. Captain Gar’ner ; but, in my creed, there 
is a truer and a better word for it, sir.” 

“ Ay, I know well enough what you mean, Stephen ; though 
I cannot fancy that Providence cares much whether we shall 
take a hundred seals to-day, or none at all.” 

“ Such is not my idee, sir ; and I’m not ashamed to own 
it. In my humble way of thinking. Captain Gar’ner, the 
finger of Divine Providence is in all that comes to pass ; 
if not straight ahead like, as a body would receive a fall, 
still, by sartain laws that bring about every thing that is 
to happen, just as it does happen. I believe now, sir, that 
Providence does not intend we shall take any seals at all to- 
day, sir.” 

“ Why not, Stimson ? It is the very finest day we have had 
since we have been on the island.” 

“ That’s true enough ; and it is this glorious sunny day, 
glorious and sunny for sich a high latitude, that makes me feel 
and think that this day was not intended for work. You prob- 
ably forget it is the Sabbath, Captain Gar’ner !” 

Sure enough ; I had forgotten that, Stephen ; but we seal- 
ers seldom lie by for such a reason.” 

“ So much the worse for us sealers, then, sir. This is my 
seventeenth v’y’ge into these seas, sir, and I will say that more 
of them have been made with officers and crews that did not 
keep the Sabbath, than with officers and crews that did. Still, 
I have obsarved one thing, sir, that the man who takes his rest 
one day in seven, and freshens his mind, as it might be, with 


240 


THE SEA LIONS. 


thinking of other matters than his every-day consarns, comes to 
liis task with so much better will, when he does set about it, as 
to turn off greater profit than if he worked night and day, Sun- 
days and all.” 

•Roswell Gardiner had no great reverence for the Christian 
Sabbath, and this more because it was so called^ than for any 
sufficient reason in itself. Pride of reason rendered him jealous 
of every thing like a concession to the faith of those who be- 
lieved in the Son of God ; and he was very apt to dissent from 
all adi.nission that had even the most remote bearing on its 
truth. Still, as a kind-hearted commander, as well as a judi- 
cious reasoner on the economy of his fellow-creatures, he fully 
felt the policy of granting relaxation to labor. Nor was he 
indisposed to believe in the care of a Divine Providence, or in 
its justice, though less believing in this respect than the illiter- 
ate but earnest-minded seaman who stood at his side. He 
knew very well that “ all work, and no play, makes Jack a dull 
boy and he understood well enough that it was good for man, 
at stated seasons, to raise his mind from the cares and business 
of this world, to muse on those of the world that is to come. 
Though inclined to Deism, Roswell worshipped in his heart the 
Creator of all he saw and understood, as well as much that he 
could neither scan nor comprehend. 

“ This is not the seaman’s usual way of thinking,” returned 
our hero, after regarding his companion for a moment, a little 
intently. “ With us, there is very little Sabbath in blue 
water.” 

“ Too little, sir ; much too little. Depend on’t. Captain 
Gar’ner, God is on the face of the waters as well as on the 
hill-tops. Ilis Spirit is everywhere ; and it must grieve it to 
see human beings, that have been created in his image, so bent 
on gain as to set apart no time even for rest ; much less for his 
worship and praise !” 

“ I am not certain you are wrong, Stimson, and I feel much 
more sure that you are right as a political economist tlian in 


THE SEA LIONS. 


241 


your religion. There should be seasons of rest and reflection — 
yet I greatly dislike losing a day as fine as this.” 

“ ‘ The better the day, the better the deed,’ sir. No time is 
lost to him who stops in his work to think a little of his God. 
Our crew is used to having a Sabbath ; and though we work 
on lays, there is not a hand aboard us, Captain Gar’ner, who 
would not be glad to hear the word pass among ’em which 
should say this is the Lord’s day, and you’ve to knock oft* your 
labor.” 

“ As I believe you understand the people, Stephen, and we 
have had a busy time of it since we got in. I’ll take you at your 
word, and give the order. Go and tell Mr. Hazard there’ll be 
no duty carried on to-day beyond what is indispensable. It is 
Sunday, and we’ll make it a day of rest.” 

Truth compels us to say that Roswell was quite as much in- 
fluenced in giving this order, by recollecting the pleasure it 
would give Mary, as by any higher consideration. 

Glad enough was Stimson to hear this order, and away he 
hastened to find the mate, that it might at once be communi- 
cated to the men. Although this w^ell-disposed seaman a little 
overrated the motives of a portion of the crew at least, he was 
right enough as to the manner in which they would receive 
the new regulation. Rest and relaxation had become, in a 
measure, necessary to them ; and leisure was also needed to 
enable the people to clean themselves ; the business in which 
they had been engaged being one that accumulates oily sub- 
stances, and requiring occasional purifications of the body in 
order to preserve the health. The scurvy, that great curse of 
long voyages, is as much owing to neglect of cleanliness as to 
diet. 

No sooner was it known that this day was to be treated as 
the Sabbath, than soap, razors, scissors, and all the usual ap- 
pliances of the sailor’s toilet, were drawn out of bags and chests, 
and paraded about on the rocks. An hour passed in scrubbing, 
shaving, cutting hair, holding gaimients up to the light to look 

11 


242 


THE SEA LIONS. 


for holes and ascertain their condition, and rummaging among 
“ properties,” as the player would term the ditferent wardrobes 
that were thus brought into view. The mates came out of the 
mUee “ shaven and shorn,” as well as neatly attired ; and there 
was not a man on the island who did not look like a different 
being from what he had appeared an hour before, in conse- 
quence of this pause in the regular business of sealing, and the 
promised holiday. A strict order was given that no one 
should go among the seals, as it was feared that some indiscre- 
tion or other might have a tendency to create an alarm. In all 
other respects the island was placed at the disposal of the men, 
if any thing could be made of such a lone spot, a speck on the 
surface of the antarctic seas, and nearly encircled by mountains 
of floating ice. 

As for Roswell himself, after reading a chapter or two in 
Mary Pratt’s Bible, he determined to make another efi'ort to 
ascend to the summit of the sterile rocks which capped the pile 
that rose vertically in the centre of the island. The day was 
nearly all before him ; and, summoning Stimson as a compan- 
ion, for he had taken a great fancy to this man, away he went, 
young, active, and full of buoyancy. Almost at the same in- 
stant, Hazard, the chief mate, pulled out of the cove in one of 
the whale-boats, manned by volunteers, and provided with sails, 
with an intention to cross the Great Bay, and get a nearer 
view of the volcanic hill, out of which smoke was constantly 
pouring, and occasionally flames. The second mate and one or 
two of the hands remained near the house, to keep a look-out 
on the vessel and other property. 

The season had now advanced to the first day of January, a 
month that in the southern hemisphere corresponds with our 
own July. As Roswell picked his way among the broken rocks 
that covered the ascent to what might be termed the table-land 
of the island, if indeed any portion of so ragged a bit of this 
earth could properly be so named, his thoughts recurred to this 
question of the season, and to the probability of his getting a 


THE SEA LIONS. 


243 


cargo before it would be absolutely necessary to go to the north- 
ward. On the whole, he fancied his chances good ; and such 
he found to be Stimson’s opinion, when this experienced sealer 
was questioned on the subject. 

“We’ve begun right in all respects but one. Captain Gar’ner,” 
said Stephen, as he closed his remarks on the subject ; “^nd 
even in that matter in which we made a small mistake at the 
outset, we are improving, and I hope will come out right in 
the end. I said a small mistake, but in this I’m wrong, as it 
was a great mistake.” 

“ And what was it, Stephen ? Make no bones of telling me 
of any blunder I may have committed, according to your 
views of duty. You are so much older than myself, that I’ll 
stand it.” 

“ Why, sir, it’s not in seamanship, or in sealing ; if it was, 
I’d hold my tongue ; but it’s in not keeping the Lord’s day 
from the hour when we lifted our anchor in that bay that bears 
the name of your family. Captain Gar’ner ; and which ought 
to be, and I make no doubt is, dear to you on that account, if 
for no other reason. I rather think, from what they tell me, 
that the old Lord Gar’ner of all had much preaching of the 
word, and much praying to the Lord in the old times, when he 
lived there.” 

, “ There never was any Lord Gardiner among us^’’ returned 

Roswell modestly, “ though it was a fashion among the east- 
; enders to give that title to the owner of the island. My ances- 
tor who first got the place was Lyon Gardiner, an engineer in 
i the service of the colony of Connecticut.” 

“Well, whether he was a lion or a lamb. I’ll answer for it 
the Lord was not forgotten on that island. Captain Gar’ner, and 
i he shouldn’t be on this. No man ever lost any thing in this 
I world, or in that which is to come a’ter it, by remembering 
1 once in seven days to call on his Creator to help him on in his 
path. I’ve heard it said, sir, that you’re a little partic’lar 
like in your ideas of religion, and that you do not altogether 


244 


THE SEA LIONS. 


hold to the doctrines that are preached up and down the 
laud.” 

Roswell felt his cheeks warm at this remark, and he thought 
of Mary, and of her meek reliance on that Saviour whom, in 
the pride of his youth, strength, and, as he fancied, of his rea- 
son also, he doubted about, as being the Son of God. The pic- 
sure thus presented to his mind had its pleasant and its un- 
pleasant features. Strange as it may seem, it is certain that 
the young man would have loved, would have respected Maiy 
less than he now did, could he imagine that she entertained 
the same notions on this very subject as those he entertained 
himself! Few men relish infidelity in a woman, whose proper 
sphere would seem to be in believing and in worshipping, and 
not in cavilling, or in splitting straws on matters of faith. 
Perhaps it is that we are apt to associate laxity of morals with 
laxity of belief, and have a general distaste for releasing the ^ 
other sex from any, even the smallest of the restraints that the 
dogmas of the church impose ; but we hold it to be without 
dispute that, with very few exceptions, every man would prefer 
that the woman in whom he feels an interest should err on the 
side of bigotry rather than on that of what is called liberalism 
in points of religious belief. Thus it is with most of us, and 
thus was it with Roswell Gardiner. He could not wonder at 
Mary’s rigid notions, considering her education ; and, on the 
whole, he rather liked her the better for them, at the very mo- 
ment that he felt they might endanger his own happiness. If 
women thoroughly understood how much of their real power 
and influence with men arises from their seeming dependence, 
there would be very little tolerance in their own circles for 
those among them who are for proclaiming their independence 
and their right to equality in all things. 

While our young mariner and his companion were working 
their way up to the table-land, which lay fully three hundred 
feet above the level of the sea, there was little opportunity for 
further discourse, so rough was the way, and so difficult the 


THE SEA LIONS. 


245 


ascent. At the summit, however, there was a short pause, ere 
the two undertook the mountain proper, and they came to a 
halt to take a look at the aspect of things around them. There 
was the boat, a mere white speck on the water, flying away 
with a fresh northerly breeze towards the volcano, while the 
smoke from the latter made a conspicuous and not very distant 
landmark. Nearer at home, all appeared unusually plain for a 
region in which fogs were so apt to prevail. The cove lay 
almost beneath them, and the schooner, just then, struck the 
imagination of her commander as a fearfully small craft to 
come so far from home and to penetrate so deep among the 
mazes of the ice. It was that ice itself, however, that attracted 
most of Roswell’s attention. Far as the eye could reach, north, 
south, east, and west, the ocean was brilliant and chill with the 
vast floating masses. The effect on the air was always percep- 
tible in that region, “ killing the summer,” as the sealers ex- 
pressed it ; but it seemed to be doubly so at the elevation to 
which the two adventurers had attained. Still, the panorama 
was magnificent. The only part of the ocean that did not seem 
to be alive with icebergs, if one may use such an expression, 
was the space within the group, and that was as clear as an 
estuary in a mild climate. It really appeared as if nature had 
tabooed that privileged spot, in order that the communication 
between the different islands should remain open. Of course, 
the presence of so many obstacles to the billows without, and 
indeed even to the rake of the winds, produced smooth water 
within, the slow, breath-like heaving and setting of the cease- 
less ground-swell, being the only perceptible motion to the 
water inside. 

“ ’Tis a very remarkable view, Stephen,” said Roswell Gardi- 
ner, “ but there will be one much finer, if we can work our way 
up that cone of a mountain, and stand on its naked cap. I 
wish I had brought an old ensign and a small spar along, to set 
up the gridiron, in honor of the States. We’re beginning to 
put out our feelers, old Stimson, and shall have ’em on far better 


246 


THIS SEA LIONS. 


bits of territory than this, before the earth has gone round in 
its track another hundred years.” 

“ Well, to my notion. Captain Gar’ner,” answered the sea- 
man, following his officer towards the base of the cone, “Uncle 
Sam has got more land now than he knows what to do with. 

If a body could discover a bit of ocean, or a largish sort of a 
sea, there might be some use in it. Whales are getting to be 
skeary, and are mostly driven off their old grounds ; and as for 
the seals, you must bury yourself, craft and all, up to the truck 
in ice, to get a smile from one of their good-lookin’ count’nances, 
as I always say.” 

“I’m afraid, Stephen, it is all over with the discovery of 
more seas. Even the moon, they now say, is altogether with- 
out water, having not so much as a lake or a large pond to 
take a duck in.” 

“ Without water, sir !” exclaimed Stimson, quite aghast. “ If ^ 
’tis so, sir, it mu8t be right, since the same hand that made the 
moon made this ’arth, and all it contains. But what can they 
do for seafaring folks in the moon, if what you tell me. Captain 
Gar’ner, is the truth ?” 

“ They must do without them. I fancy oil and skins are not 
very much in demand among the moonites, Stephen. What’s 
that, otf here to the eastward, eh ? East-a,nd-by-north-half-east, 
or so?” 

“ I see what you mean, sir. It does look wonderfully like a 
sail, and a sail pretty well surrounded by ice, too !” 

There was no mistake in the matter. The white canvas of 
a vessel was plainly visible, over a vast breadth of field-ice, a 
little to the northward of the island that lay directly opposite 
the cove. Although the sails of this stranger were spread, it 
was plain enough he was closely beset, if not actually jammed. 
From the first instant he saw the strange craft, Boswell had not 
a doubt of her character. He felt convinced it was his late 
consort, the Sea Lion of the Vineyard, which had found her 
way to the group by means of some hint that had fallen into 


THE SEA LIONS. 


247 


Daggett’s hands, if not by a positive nautical instinct. So 
great had been his own success, however, and so certain did he 
now feel of filling up in due season, that he cared much less for 
this invasion on his privacy than he would have done a fort- 
night earlier. On the contrary, it might be a good thing to 
have a consort in the event of any accident occurring to his 
own vessel. From the moment, then, that Gardiner felt certain 
of the character of the strange sail, his policy was settled in his 
own mind. It was to receive his old acquaintance with good 
will, and to help fill him up, too, as soon as he had secured his 
own cargo, in order that they might sail for home in company. 
By his aid and advice, the other schooner might save a week 
in time at that most important season of the year; and by the 
experience and exertions of his people, a whole month in filling- 
up might readily be gained. 

All thoughts of climbing the peak were at once abandoned ; 
and, in fifteen minutes after the sail was seen, Roswell and Ste- 
phen both came panting down to the house ; so much easier is 
it to descend in this world than to mount. A swivel was in- 
stantly loaded and fired as a signal ; and, in half an hour, a 
boat was manned and ready. Roswell took command himself, 
leaving his second mate to look after the schooner. Stimson 
went with his captain, and less than one hour after he had first 
seen the strange sail, our hero was actually pulling out of the 
cove, with a view to go to her assistance. Roswell Gardiner 
was as good-hearted a fellow as ever lived. He had a sufficient 
regard for his own interests, as well as for those of others in- 
trusted to his care ; but, these main points looked after, he 
would cheerfully have worked a month to relieve the Vineyard- 
men from the peril that so plainly beset them. Setting his 
sails the instant the boat was clear of the rocks, away he went, 
then, as fast as ash and canvas could carry him, which was at a 
rate but little short of eight knots in the hour. 

As he was thus flying towards his object, our young mariner 
formed a theory in his own mind, touching the drift of the ice in 


248 


THE SEA LIONS. 


the adjacent seas. It was simply this. He had sounded in en- 
tering the great bay, and had ascertained that comparatively 
shallow water existed between the southeastern extremity of 
Sealer’s Land and the nearest island opposite. It was deep 
enough to admit the largest vessel that ever floated, and a great 
deal more than this ; but it was not deep enough to permit an 
iceberg to pass. The tides, too, ran in races among the islands, 
which prevented the accumulation of ice at the southern en- 
trance, while the outer currents seemed to set every thing past 
the group, to allow of the floating mountains to collect to the 
eastward, where they appeared to be thronged. It was on the 
western verge of this wilderness of icebergs and ice-fields that 
the strange sail had been seen working her way towards the 
group, which must be plainly in view from her decks, as her 
distance from the nearest of the islands certainly did not exceed 
two leagues. 

It required more than two hours for the whale-boat of Eos- 
well to cross the bay, and reach the margin of that vast field of 
ice which was prevented from drifting into the open space only 
by encountering the stable rocks of the first of the group. 
Every eye was now turned in quest of an opening, by means of 
which it might be possible to get further to the eastward. 
One, at length, was discovered, and into it Gardiner dashed, 
ordering his boat’s crew to stretch themselves out at their oars, 
though every man with him thought they were plunging into 
possible destruction. On the boat went, however, now sheering 
to starboard, now to port, to avoid projecting spurs of ice, until 
she had ploughed her way through a fearfully narrow, and a 
deviating passage, that sometimes barely permitted them to go 
through, until a spot was reached where the two fields which 
formed this strait actually came in close crushing contact with 
each other. Roswell took a look before and behind him, saw 
that his boat was safe owing to the formation of the two out- 
lines of the respective fields, when he sprang upon the ice itself, 
bidding the boat-steerer to wait for him. A shout broke out 


THE SEA LIONS. 


249 


of the lips of the young captain the instant he was erect on 
the ice. There lay the schooner, the Martha’s Vineyard craft, 
within half a mile of him, in plain sight, and in as plain 
jeopardy. She was jammed, with every prospect, as Roswell 
thought, of being crushed, ere she could get free from the 
dangeiS 


11 * 


‘250 


THE SEA LIONS. 


CHAPTER XVI. 

“ A sculler’s notch in the stern he made, 

An oar he shaped of the bottle blade; 

Then sprung to his seat wilh a lightsome leap, 

And launched afar on the calm, blue deep.” 

Thk Culpeit Fay. 


Roswell was hardly on the ice before a sound of a most 
portentous sort reached his ear. He knew at once that the 
field had been rent in twain by outward pressure, and that 
some new change was to occur that might release or might 
destroy the schooner. He was on the point of springing for- 
ward in order to join Daggett, when a call from the boat ar- 
rested his steps. 

“ These here fields are coming together. Captain Gar’ner, 
and our boat will soon be crushed unless we get it out of the 
water.” 

Sure enough, a single glance behind him sufl5ced to assure 
the young master of the truth of this statement. The field he 
was on was slowly swinging, bringing its western margin in 
closer contact with the eastern edge of the floe that lay within 
it. The movement could be seen merely by the closing of the 
channel through which the boat had come, and by the cracking 
and crushing of the ice on the edges of the two fields. So tre- 
mendous was the pressure, however, that cakes as large as a 
small house were broken ofi", and forced upward on the surface 
of the field, or ground into small fragments, as it might be un- 
der the vice of a power hitherto unknowm to the spectators. 
Slow as was the movement of the floe, it was too fast to allow 
of delay ; and, finding a suitable place, the boat was hauled 


THE SEA LIONS. 


251 


up, aud put in security on the floe that lay nearest the 
schooner. 

“ This may give us a long drag to get back into the water, 
Stimson, and a night out of our bunks,” said Roswell, looking 
about him, as soon as the task was achieved. 

“ I do not know that, sir,” was the answer. “ It seems to 
me that the floe has parted alongside of them rocks, and if 
so-be that should turn out to be the case, the whull on us, 
schooner, boat, and all hands, may drift into the bay; for 
that there is a current setting from this quarter up towards 
our island. I’m sartain of, by the feel of my oar, as we come 
along.” 

“ It may be so ; the currents run all manner of ways, and 
field-ice may pass the shoals, though a berg never can. I do 
not remember, nevertheless, to have ever seen even a floe with- 
in the group — nothing beyond large cakes that have got adrift 
by some means or other.” 

“ I have, sir, though only once. A few days a’ter we got in, 
when I was ship-keeper, and all hands was down under the 
rocks of the north eend, a field come in at the northern entrance 
of the bay, and went out at the southern. It might have been 
a league athwart it, and it drifted, as a body might say, as if it 
had some one aboard to give it the right sheer. Touch it did 
at the south cape, but just winding as handy as a craft could 
have done it, in a good tide’s way, out to sea it went ag’in, 
bound to the south pole for-ti-’now.” 

“ Well, this is good news, and may be the means of saving 
the Vineyard craft in the end. We do seem to be setting 
bodily into the bay, and if we can only get clear of that island, 
I do not see what is to hinder it. Here is a famous fellow of a 
mountain to the northward, coming down before the wind, as 
one might say, and giving us a cant into the passage. I should 
think that chap must produce some sort of a change, whether 
it be for better or worse.” 

“ Ay, ay, sir,” put in Thompson, who acted as a boat-steerei 


252 


THE SEA LIONS. 


at need, “ he may do just tliat, but it is all he can do. Mr. 
Green and I sounded out from the cove for a league or more, a 
few days since, and we found less than twenty fathoms, as far 
as we went. That chap up to the nor’ard there, draws some- 
thing like a hundred fathoms, if he draws an inch. He shows 
more above water than a first-rate’s truck.” 

“ That does he, and a good deal to spare. Thompson, do 
you and Todd remain here, and look after the boat, while the 
rest of us will shape our course for the schooner. She seems 
to he in a wicked berth, and ’twill be no more than neighborly 
to try to get her out of it.” 

Truly enough might Roswell call the berth of the Sea Lion 
of the Vineyard, by any expressive name that implied danger. 
When the party reached her, they found the situation of that 
vessel to he as follows : She had been endeavoring to work 
her way through a passage between two large fields, when she 
found the ice closing, and that she was in great danger of being 
“ nipped.” Daggett was a man of fertile resources, and great 
decision of character. Perceiving that escape was impossible, 
all means of getting clear being rendered useless by the floes 
soon touching, both before and behind him, he set about adopt- 
ing the means most likely to save his vessel. Selecting a spot 
where a curve, in the margin of the field to leeward, promised 
temporary security, at least, he got his vessel into it, anchored 
fast to the floe. Then he commenced cutting away the ice, by 
means of axes first, and of saws afterwards, in the hope that he 
might make such a cavity as, by its size and shape, would re- 
ceive the schooner’s hull, and prevent her destruction. For 
several hours had he and his people been at this work, when, 
to their joy, as well as to their great astonishment, they were 
suddenly joined by Roswell and his party. The fact was, that 
so intently had every one of the Vineyard men’s faculties been 
absorbed by their own danger, and so much was each indi- 
vidual occupied by his own duty, that not a man among them 
had seen the boat, or even any of the crew, until Gardiner 


THE SEA LIONS. 


253 


called out to Daggett as he approached, announcing his pres- 
ence by his voice. 

“ This is good fortune, truly, Captain Gar’ner,” said Daggett, 
shaking his brother master cordially by the hand ; “ good for- 
tune, do I call it ! I was satisfied that I should fall in with 
you somewhere about this group of islands, for they lie just 
about where my late uncle had given us reason to suppose 
some good sealing-ground might be met with ; but I did not 
hope to see you this morning. You observe our position, 
Captain Gar’ner ; there is every prospect of a most awful 
nip !” 

“ There is, indeed, though I see you have been making some 
provision for it. What luck have you had in digging a slip to 
let the schooner into ?” 

“Well, we might have had worse, though better would have 
been more agreeable. It’s plain sailing, so long as we can 
work above water, and you see we’ve cleared a fine berth for 
the craft, down to the water’s edge ; but, below that, ’tis blind 
work and slow. The field is some thirty feet thick, and saw- 
ing through it is out of the question. The most we can do is 
to get off pieces diagonally. I am not without hopes that we 
have done enough of this to make a wedge, on which the 
schooner will rise, if pressed hard on her olf-side. I have 
heard of such things. Captain Gar’ner, though I cannot say I 
ever saw it.” 

“ It’s a ticklish business to trust to such a protector', still, a 
great deal must be gained by cutting away so much of this 
upper ice, and it is possible your schooner may be lifted, as 
you seem to expect. Has any thing been done to strengthen 
the craft inboard ?” 

“Not as yet; though I’ve thought of that, too. But what 
is the stoutest ship that ever floated, against the pressure of 
such an enormous field of ice ? Had we not better keep cut- 
ting away ?” 

“You can continue to work the saw and the axes, but I will 


254 


THE SEA LIONS. 


give an eye to strengthening the craft inboard. Just point out 
the spars and plank you can spare, and we’ll see what can be 
done. At any rate, my lads, you can now work with the cer- 
tainty that your lives are safe. My schooner lies about six 
leagues from you, as safely moored as if she lay in a dock. 
Come, Captain Daggett, let me see your spare spars and 
plank.” 

Great encouragement it certainly was to these mariners, so 
far from home, and in their imminently perilous condition, to 
know that a countryman and a friend was so near them, to 
afford shelter and protection. The American sailor is not a 
cheering animal, like his English relative, but he quite as clearly 
understands what ought to be received with congratulation, as 
those who are apt to make more noise. The Vineyard men, 
in particular, were habitually quiet and thoughtful, there being 
but one seaman in the craft who did not husband his lay, and 
look forward to meet the wants of a future day. This is the 
result of education, men usually becoming quiet as they gain 
ideas, and feel that the tongue has been given to us in order to 
communicate them to our fellows. Still, the joy at receiving 
this unlooked-for assistance was great among the Vineyard 
men, and each party went to work with activity and zeal. 

The task of Roswell Gardiner was inboard, while that of 
Daggett and his men continued to be on the ice. The latter 
resumed the labor of cutting and sawing the field, and of get- 
ting up fenders, or skids, to protect the inner side of their ves- 
sel from the effects of a “ nip.” As for Gardiner, he set about 
his self-assumed duty with great readiness and intelligence. 
His business was to strengthen the craft, by getting supports 
up in her hold. This was done without much diflSculty, all the 
upper part of the hold being clear and easily come at. Spars 
were cut to the proper length, plank were placed in the broad- 
est part of the vessel, opposite to each other, and the spars 
were wedged in carefully, extending from side to side, so as to 
form a great additional support to the regular construction of 


THE SEA LIONS, 


255 


the schooner. In little more than an hour, Roswell had his 
task accomplished, while Daggett did not see that he could 
achieve much more himself. They met on the ice to consult, 
and to survey the condition of things around them. 

The outer field had been steadily encroaching upon the inner, 
breaking the edges of both, until the points of junction were to 
be traced by a long line of fragments forced upwards, and piled 
high in the air. Open spaces, however, still existed, owing to 
irregularities in the outlines of the two floes; and Daggett 
hoped that the little bay into which he had got his schooner 
might not be entirely closed, ere a shift of wind, or a change 
in the tides, might carry away the causes of the tremendous 
pressure that menaced his security. It is not easy for those 
who are accustomed to look at natural objects in their more 
familiar aspects, fully to appreciate the vast momentum of the 
weight that was now drifting slowly down upon the schooner. 
The only ray of hope was to be found in the deficiency in one 
of the two great requisites of such a force. Momentum being 
weight multiplied into velocity^ there were some glimpses visi- 
ble, of a nature to produce a slight degree of expectation that 
the last might yet be resisted. The movement was slow, but it 
was absolutely grand, by its steadiness and power. Any one 
who has ever stood on a lake or river shore, and beheld the un- 
deviating force with which a small cake of ice crumbles and 
advances before a breeze, or in a current, may form some idea of 
the majesty of the movement of a field of ice leagues in diame- 
ter, and which was borne upon by a gale of the ocean, as well 
as by currents, and by the weight of drifting icebergs from 
without. It is true that the impetus came principally from a 
great distance, and could scarcely be detected or observed by 
those around the schooner ; still, these last were fully aware of 
the whole character of the danger, which each minute appeared 
to render more and more imminent and imposing. The two 
fields were obviously closing still, and that with a resistless 
power that boded destruction to the unfortunate vessel. The 


256 


THE SEA LIONS. 


open water near her was already narrowed to a space that half 
an hour might suffice to close entirely. 

“ Have you set that nearest island by compass, Daggett ?” 
asked Roswell Gardiner, as soon as he had taken a good look 
around him. “ To me it seems that it bears more to the east- 
ward than it did an hour since. If this should be true, our 
inner field here must have a very considerable westerly set.” 

“ In which case we may still hope to drift clear,” returned 
Daggett, springing on board the schooner, and running aft to 
the binnacle, Roswell keeping close at his side. “ By George ! 
it is as you say ; the bearings of that island are altered at least 
two points !” 

“ In which case our drift has exceeded a league — Ha ! what 
noise is that ? Can it be an eruption of the volcano ?” 

Daggett, at first, was inclined to believe it was a sound pro- 
duced by some of the internal convulsions of the earth, which 
within, as if in mockery of the chill scene that prevailed with- 
out, was a raging volcano, the fierce heats of which found vent 
at the natural chimneys produced by its own efforts. This 
opinion, however, did not last long, and he gave expression to 
his new thoughts in his answer. 

“’Tis the ice,” he said. “I do believe the pressure has 
caused the fields to part on the rocks of that island. If so, our 
leeward floe may float away, as fast as the weather field ap- 
proaches.” 

“ Hardly,” said Roswell, gazing intently towards the nearest 
island ; “ hardly ; for the most weatherly of the two will ne- 
cessarily get the force of the wind and the impetus of those 
bergs first, and make the fastest drift. It may lessen the vio- 
lence of the nip, but I do not think it will avert it altogether.” 

This opinion of Gardiner’s fully described all that subse- 
quently occurred. The outer floe continued its inroads on the 
inner, breaking up the margins of both, until the channel was 
so nearly closed as to bring the field from which the danger 
was most apprehended in absolute contact with the side of the 


THE SKA LIONS. 


257 


schooner. When the margin of the outer floe first touched the 
bilge of the scliooner, it was at the precise spot where the ves- 
sel had just been fortified within. Fenders had also been pro- 
vided without, and there was just a quarter of a minute, during 
which the two captains hoped that these united means of de- 
fence might enable the craft to withstand the pressure. This 
delusion lasted but a moment, however, the cracking of timbers 
letting it be plainly seen that the force was too great to be re- 
sisted. For another quarter of a minute, the two masters held 
their breath, expecting to see the deck rise beneath their feet, 
as the ice rose along the points of contact between the floes. 
Such, in all probability, would have been the result, had not the 
pressure brought about another change, that was quite as much 
within the influence of the laws of mechanical forces, though 
not so much expected. Owing to the wedge-like form of the 
vessel’s bottom, as well as to the circumstance that the ice of 
the outer floe had a similar shape, projecting beneath the 
schooner’s keel, the craft was lifted bodily, with an upward 
jerk, as if she were suddenly released from some imprisoning 
power. Released she was, indeed, and that most opportunely, 
for another half minute would have seen her ribs broken in, 
and the schooner a mangled wreck. As she now'rose, Roswell 
gave vent to his delight in a loud cry, and all hands felt that 
the occurrence might possibly save them. The surge upw'ard 
w'as fearful, and several of the men were thrown off their feet ; 
but it effectually released the schooner from the nip, laying her 
gradually up in the sort of dock that her people had been so 
many hours preparing for her reception. There she lay, in- 
clining a little, partly on her bilge, or sewed, as seamen term it, 
when a vessel gets a list from touching the ground and being 
left by the tide, neither quite upright, nor absolutely on her 
beam-ends. 

No sooner was the vessel thus docked, than all apprehension 
of receiving further injury from the outer floe ceased. It might 
force the schooner altogether on the inner field, driving the ves- 


258 


THE SEA LIONS. 


sel before it, as an avalanche of mud in the Alps is known to 
force cottages and hamlets in its front ; but it could no longer 
“ nip” it. It did not appear probable to the two masters, how- 
ever, that the vessel would be forced from its present berth, the 
rending and cracking of the ice sensibly diminishing, as the 
two floes came closer and closer together. Nor was this all : 
it was soon very obvious that the inner field was drifting, with 
an increased motion, into the bay, while the larger, or outer 
floe, seemed to hang, from some cause or other. Of the fact 
there was soon no doubt, the fissure beginning to open, as 
slowly and steadily as it had closed, but noiselessly, and with- 
out any rending of the ice. 

“ We shall get you clear, Daggett ! we shall get you clear !” 
cried Roswell, with hearty good will, forgetting, in that moment 
of generous effort, all feelings of competition and rivalry. “ I 
know what you are after, my good fellow — have understood it 
from the first. Yonder high land is the spot you seek; and 
along the north shore of that island are elephants, lions, dogs, 
bears, and other animals, to fill up all the craft that ever came 
out of the Vineyard !” 

“This is hearty, Gar’ner,” returned the other, giving his 
brother master a most cordial shake of the hand, “ and it’s just 
what I like. Sealing is a sociable business, and a craft should 
never come alone into these high latitudes. Accidents will hap- 
pen to the most prudent man living, as you see by what has 
just befallen me ; for, to own the truth, we’ve had a narrow 
chance of it !” 

The reader will remember that all which Daggett now said, 
was uttered by a man who saw his vessel lying on the ice, with 
a list that rendered it somewhat difficult to move about on her 
deck, and still in circumstances that would have caused half the 
navigators of this world to despair. Such was not the fact 
with Daggett, however. Seven thousand miles from home, 
alone, in an unknown sea, and uncertain of ever finding the 
place he sought, this man had picked his way among moun- 


THE SEA LIONS. 


259 


tains and fields of ice, with perhaps less hesitation and reluc- 
tance than a dandy would encounter the perils of a crossing, 
when the streets were a little moistened by rain. Even then, 
with his vessel literally shelfed on the ice, certain that she had 
been violently nipped, he was congratulating himself on reach- 
ing a sealing-ground, from which he could never return without 
encountering all the same dangers over again. As for Ros- 
well, he laughed a little at the other’s opinion of the sealing 
business, for he was morally certain the Vineyard man would 
have kept the secret, had it been in his possession alone. 

“Well, well, we’ll forget the past,” he said, “all but what 
we’ve done to help one another. You stood by me off Hatte- 
ras, and I’ve been of some service to you here. You know how 
it is in our calling, Daggett ; first come, fii*st served. I got 
here first, and have had the cream of the business for this sea- 
son ; though I do not by any means wish to be understood as 
saying that you are too late.” 

“ I hope not, Gar’ner. ’T would be vexatious to have all this 
risk and trouble for nothing. How much ile have you stowed ?” 

“ All my ground tier, and a few riders. It is with the skins 
that we are doing the best business.” 

Daggett’s eyes fairly snapped at this announcement, which 
aroused all his professional ambition, to say nothing of that 
propensity to the “root of all evil,” which had become pretty 
thoroughly incorporated with his moral being, by dint of ex- 
ample, theory, and association. We have frequently had occa- 
sion to remark how much more “enjoyable,” for the intellectual 
and independent, is a country on the decline, than a country 
on the advance. The one is accumulating that wealth which 
the other has already possessed and improved ; and men cease 
to dwell so much on riches in their inmost souls, when the 
means of obtaining them would seem to have got beyond their 
reach. This is one of the secrets of the universal popularity of 
Italy with the idle and educated ; though the climate, and the 
monuments, and the recollections, out of doubt, contribute 


260 


THE SEA LIONS. 


largely to its charms. Nevertheless, man, as a rule, is far more 
removed from the money -getting mania in Italy, than in almost 
any other portion of the Christian world ; and this merely be- 
cause the time of her wealth and power has gone by, leaving in 
its train a thousand fruits, that would seem to be the most sa- 
vory, as the stem on which they grew would appear to be ap- 
proaching its decay. Neither on Martha’s Vineyard, however, 
nor in any part of the Great Republic, indeed, has this waning 
season yet commenced, and the heart of man is still engrossed 
with those desires that are to produce the means which are to 
lay the foundations for the enjoyment of generations to come. 

“ That’s luck, indeed, for a craft so early in the season,” re- 
turned Daggett, when his eyes had done snapping. “ Are the 
critturs getting to be wild and skeary ?” 

“ Not more so than the day we began upon them. I have 
taken the greatest care to send none but my most experienced 
hands out to kill and skin, and their orders have been rigid to 
give as little alarm as possible. If you wish to fill up, I would 
advise you to take the same precautions, for the heel of the sea- 
son is beginning to show itself.” 

“ I will winter here, but I get a full craft,” said Daggett, with 
a resolute manner, if not absolutely serious in what he said. 
“Trouble enough have I had to find the group, and we Vine- 
yard men don’t relish the idee of being outdone.” 

“You would be done up, my fine fellow,” answered Roswell, 
laughing, “ did you attempt to pass a winter here. The Sea 
Lion of Humses’ Hull would not herself keep you in fuel, and 
you would have to raft it off next summer on your casks, or 
remain here forever.” 

“I suppose a body might expect to see you back again, 
another season,” observed Daggett, glancing meaningly towards 
his companion, as if he had seriously revolved so desperate a 
plan in his mind. “ ’Tis n’t often that a sealer lets a station 
like that you’ve described drop out of his recollection in a 
single v’y’ge.” 


THE SEA LIONS. 


261 


“ I may be back or I may not,” said Roswell, just then re- 
membering Mary, and wondering if she would continue to keep 
him any longer in suspense, should he return successful from 
his present adventure : “ that will depend on others more than 
on myself. I wish, however, now we are both here, and there 
can no longer be any ‘ hide and go seek’ between us, that 
you would tell me how you came to know any thing about 
this cluster of islands, or of the seals then and there to be 
found ?” 

“ You forget my uncle, who died on Oyster Pond, and whose 
effects I crossed over to claim ?” 

“ I remember him very well — saw him often while living, and 
helped to bury him when dead.” 

“ Well, our information came from him. He threw out sev- 
eral hints consarning sealing-grounds aboard the brig in which 
he came home ; and you needn’t be told, Gar’ner, that a hint 
of that kind is sartain to find its way through all the ports 
down east. But hearing that there was new sealing-ground 
wasn’t knowing where to find it. I should have been at a loss, 
wasn’t it for the spot on my uncle’s chart that had been rubbed 
over lately, as I concluded, to get rid of some of his notes. 
You know, as well as I do, that the spot was in this very lati- 
tude and longitude, and so I came here to look for the much- 
desired land.” 

“ And you have undertaken such an outfit, and come this 
long distance into an icy sea, on information as slight as this !” 
exclaimed Roswell, astonished at this proof of sagacity and en- 
terprise, even in men who are renowned for scenting dollars 
from pole to pole. 

“ On this, with a few hints picked up, here and here, among 
some of the old gentleman’s papers. He was fond of scrib- 
bling, and I have got a sort of a chart that he scratched on a 
leaf of his Bible, that was made to represent this very group, 
as I can now see.” 

“ Then you could have had no occasion for the printed chart, 


262 


THE SEA LIONS. 


with the mark of obliteration on it, and did not come here on 
that authority after all.” 

“ There you’re wrong, Captain Gar’ner. The chart of the 
group had no latitude or longitude, but just placed each island 
with its bearings and distances from the other islands. It was 
no help in finding the place, which might be in one hemisphere 
as well as in the other.” 

“ It was, then, the mark of the obliteration — ” 

Marks, if you please. Captain Gar’ner,” interrupted the 
other, significantly. “ My uncle talked a good deal aboard of 
that brig about other matters besides sealing. We think sev- 
eral matters have been obliterated from the old chart, and w'e 
intend to look ’em all up. It’s our right, you know, seeing 
that the old man was Vineyard-born, and we are his nearest 
of kin.” 

“ Certainly,” rejoined Roswell, laughing again, but some- 
what more faintly than before. “ Every man for himself in this 
world is a good maxim ; it being pretty certain if we do not 
take care of ourselves, no one will take care of us.” 

“Yes, sir,” said Stimson, who was standing near; “there is 
One to care for every hair of our heads, however forgetful and 
careless we may be ourselves. Wasn’t it for this. Captain 
Gar’ner, there’s many a craft that comes into these seas that 
would never find its way out of ’em ; and many a bold sailor, 
with a heart boiling over with fun and frolic, that would be 
frozen to an ice-cicle every year !” 

Gardiner felt the justice of this remark, and easily pardoned 
its familiarity for its truth. In these sealers the discipline is by 
no means of that distant and military or naval character that is 
found in even an ordinary merchantman. As every seaman 
has an interest in the result of the voyage, some excuse was 
made for this departure from the more general usage ; and this 
familiarity itself never exceeded the bounds that were necessary 
to the observance of duty. 

“ Ay, ay,” returned Roswell, smiling — “ in one sense you are 


THE SEA LIONS. 


263 


right enough ; but Captain Daggett and myself were speaking 
of human aftairs, as human aflfairs are carried on. Is not this 
inner field drifting fast away from the outer, Daggett ? If so, 
we shall go directly into the bay !” 

It was as Gardiner thought. By some means that were not 
apparent, the floes were now actually separating, and at a rate 
of movement which much exceeded that of their junction. All 
idea of further danger from the outer field disappeared, as a 
matter of course. 

“ It’s so, Captain Gar’ner,” said Stimson, respectfully, but 
with point ; “ and who and what brought it about for our safety 
and the preservation of this craft ? I just ventur’ to ask that 
question, sir.” 

“ It may be the hand of Providence, my good fellow ; for I 
very frankly own I can see no direct physical cause. Never- 
theless, I fancy it would be found that the tides or currents have 
something to do with it, if the truth could be come at.” 

“ Well, sir, and who causes the tides and currents to run, 
this-a-way and that-a-way 

“ There you have me, Stephen ; for I never could get hold of 
the clew to their movements at ail,” answered Roswell, laugh- 
ing. “ There is a reason for it all, I dare say, if one could only 
find it out. Captain Daggett, it is high time to look after the 
safety of your schooner. She ought to be in the cove before 
night sets in, since the ice has found its way into the bay.” 

This appeal produced a general movement. By this time the 
two fields were a hundred fathoms asunder ; the smaller, or that 
on which the vessel lay, drifting quite fast into the bay, under 
the joint influences of wind and current ; while the larger floe 
liad clearly been arrested by the islands. This smaller field was 
much lessened in surface, in consequence of having been broken 
at the rocks, though the fragment that was thus cut off* was 
more than a league in diameter, and of a thickness that ex- 
ceeded many yards. 

As for the Sea Lion of the Vineyard, she was literally 


2(54 


THE SEA LIONS. 


shelved, as has been said. So irresistible had been the momen- 
tum of the great floe, that it lifted her out of the water as two 
or three hands would run up a bark canoe on a gravelly beach. 
This lifting process had, very fortunately for the craft, been 
effected by an application of force from below, in a wedge-like 
manner, and by bringing the strongest defences of the vessel to 
meet the power. Consequently, no essential injury had been 
done the vessel in thus laying her on her screw-dock. 

“ If a body could get the craft off as easily as she was got 
on'' observed Daggett, as he and Roswell Gardiner stood look- 
ing at the schooner’s situation, “ it would be but a light job. 
But, as it is, she lies on ice at least twenty feet thick, and ice 
that seems as solid as flint !” 

“We know it is not quite as hard as that, Daggett,” was 
Roswell’s reply ; “ for our saws and axes make great havoc in 
it, when we can fairly get at it.” 

“ If one could get fairly at it ! But here you see, Gar’ner, 
every thing is under water, and an axe is next to useless. Nor 
can the saws be used with much advantage on ice so thick.” 

“ There is no help for it but hard work and great persever- 
ance. I would advise that a saw be set at work at each end of 
the schooner, allowing a little room in case of accidents, and 
that we weaken the foundation by two deep cuts. The weight 
of the vessel will help us, and in time she will settle back into 
her ‘ native element,’ as the newspapers have it.” 

There was, indeed, no other process that promised success, 
and the advice of Gardiner was followed. In the course of the 
next two hours deep cuts were made with the saws, which were 
pushed so low as to reach quite to the bottom of the cake. 
This could be done only by what the sailors called “jury-han- 
dles,” or spars secured to the plates. The water offered the prin- 
cipal obstacle, for that lay on the shelf at least five feet deep. 
Perseverance and ingenuity, however, finally achieved their 
aim. A cracking was heard, the schooner slowly righted, and 
settled off into the sea again, as easily and harmlessly as if scien- 


THE SEA LIONS. 


265 


tifically launched. The fenders protected her sides and copper, 
though the movement was little more than slowly sinking on 
the fragment of the cake, which, by means of the cuts, had been 
gi adually so much reduced as to be unable to uphold so great 
a weight. It was merely reversing the process of breaking the 
camel’s back, by laying the last feather on his load. 

This happy conclusion to several hours of severe toil, oc- 
curred just as the field had drifted abreast of the cove, and was 
about the centre of the bay. Hazard came up also at that 
point, on his return from the volcano, altering his course a little 
to speak the strangers. The report of the mate concerning his 
-- discoveries was simple and brief. There was a volcano, and 
' one in activity ; but it had nothing remarkable about it. No 
! seal were seen, and there was little to reward one for crossing 
the bay. Sterility, and a chill grandeur, were the character- 
I istics of all that region ; and these were not wanting to any 
part of the group. Just as the sun was setting, Gardiner piloted 
his companion into the cove; and the two Sea Lions were 
l' moored amicably side by side, and that too at a spot where 
[ thousands of the real animals were to be found within a league. 
[ 12 


t' 

1 


266 


THE SEA LIONS. 


CHAPTER XVII. 

“The morning air blows fresh on him; 

The waves dance gladly in his sight ; 

The sea-birds call, and wheel, and skim — 

O blessed morning light I” 

Dana. 

The very day succeeding the arrival of the Sea Lion of the 
Vineyard, even while his mate was clearing the vessel, Daggett 
had a gang on the north shore, killing and skinning. As Ros- 
well’s rules were rigidly observed, no other change was pro- 
duced by this accession to the force of the sealers, than addi- 
tional slaughter. Many more seals were killed, certainly, but 
all was done so quietly that no great alarm was awakened 
among the doomed animals themselves. One great advantage 
was obtained by the arrival of the new party that occasioned a 
good deal of mirth at first, but which, in the end, was found to 
be of great importance to the progress of the work. Daggett 
had taken to pieces and brought with him the running part of 
a common country wagon, which was soon found of vast ser- 
vice in transporting the skins and blubber across the rocks. 
The wheels were separated, leaving them in pairs, and each 
axle was loaded with a freight that a dozen men would hardly 
have carried, whereas two or three hands would drag in the load, 
with an occasional lift from other gangs, to get them up a 
height, or over a cleft. This portion of the operation was found 
to work admirably, owing, in a great measure, to the smooth 
surfaces of the rocks; and unquestionably these wheels ad- 
vanced the business of the season at least a fortnight ; — Gardi- 
ner thought a montli. It rendered the crews better natured, 
too, much diminishing their toil, and sending them to their 


THE SEA LIONS. 


267 


bunks at night in a far better condition for rest than they oth- 
erwise could have been. 

Just one month, or four weeks to a day, after the second 
schooner got in, it being Sunday of course, Gardiner and Dag- 
gett met on the platform of a perfectly even rock that lay 
stretched for two hundred yards directly beneath the house. 
It was in the early morning. Notwithstanding there was a 
strong disposition to work night and day on the part of the 
new-comers, Roswell’s rule of keeping the Sabbath as a day of 
rest had prevailed, and the business of washing, scrubbing, and 
shaving had just commenced. As for the two masters, they 
required fewer ablutions than their men, had risen earlier, and 
were already dressed for the day. 

“ To-morrow will be the first day of February,” said Daggett, 
when the salutations of the morning were passed, “ and I was 
calculating my chances of getting full this season. You will 
be full this week, I conclude, Gar’ner T’ 

“We hope to be so, by the middle of it,” was the answer. 
“ I think the seal are getting to be much shyer than they were, 
and am afraid we shall demonstrate that ‘ the more haste is the 
worse speed.’ ” 

“What is that to you?” returned Daggett quickly. “Of 
course you will sail for home as soon as you can get off.” 

Gardiner did not like the “ of course,” which was indirectly 
saying what the other would do himself under similar circum- 
! stances. Still, it caused no difference in his own decision, which 
had been made up under the influence of much reflection and 
of a great deal of good feeling. 

“ I shall do no such thing. Captain Daggett,” was the answer. 
“ I do not fancy the idea of leaving a fellow-creature, a country- 
man— nay, I might say, a neighbor, on this lone spot, with the 
uncertainty of his ever getting out of it. If you can come to 
some understanding with my officers and crew, I will keep 
the schooner here until we are both full, and ready to sail in 
company.” 


268 


THE SEA LIONS. 


“In which case you would nat’rally ask a lay for yourself?” 

“Naturally, perhaps, I might,” returned Roswell, smiling, 
“ though positively, I shall not. Not one of us in the cabin 
will look for any other advantage than your good company. 
I have talked this matter over with my mates, and they say 
that the advantage of having a consort in getting through the 
ice is sufficient to justify us in holding on two or three weeks 
longer. With the men, it will be a little different, perhaps ; 
and they will require some pay. The poor fellows live by their 
hands, and what their hands do they will expect to be compen- 
sated for.” 

“ They shall have good lays, depend on it. As for yourself, 
Captain Gar’ner, I trust my owners will not forget to do what 
is right, if we ever get home, and meet with luck in the 
market.” 

“ Never fear for me, Daggett. I look for my reward in the 
bright eyes and pleasant smiles of as excellent a girl as Long 
Island can produce. Mary never fails to reward me in that 
way whenever I do right. It is right to stand by you just now 
— to do as I would be done by ; and I’ll do it. Set the thing 
down as decided, but make your bargain with my men. And 
now, Daggett, what say you to climbing yonder mountain to- 
day, by way of getting a good survey of our territories, as well 
as to take a look at the state of the ice ?” 

Daggett assented very cheerfully, his mind being greatly re- 
lieved by this assurance of standing by him, on the part of Ros- 
well ; for he had been undecided whether to remain after the 
departure of the other schooner or not. All was now clear to 
him, however, and the two masters made their preparations to 
ascend the mountain as soon as they had breakfasted. Stim- 
son was summoned to be of the party, his officer having got to 
be accustomed to, and desirous of, his company. 

For the first two hours after quitting the house, Gardiner, 
Daggett, and the boat-steerer were busily employed in working 
their way across the broken surface of the island, to the base of 


THE SEA LIONS. 


269 


the cone-line pinnacle that formed the apex of all. There they 
rested, and took a little refreshment, conversing the while on 
the state of the ice in the offing, so far as the last could be 
seen from their present elevation. 

“We shall have a sharp hill to climb, should we succeed in 
getting up here,” observed Roswell, “ though the rocks appear 
to be quite clear of snow just now.” 

“Just now, or never. This is the antarctic dog-days, Gar’ner,” 
answered Daggett, laughing, “ and we must make the most of 
them. A man can move about without his pee-jacket at noon- 
day, and that is something gained ; for, I have heard of ice 
making in the bays, even at midsummer.” 

“We are not in a high enough latitude for that, thank 
heaven, though pretty well south too. This is our harvest-time 
here, sure enough, and we had better look to it.” 

As Gardiner said this, the eyes of all three were turned on 
the sterile scene around them. The island was not absolutely 
destitute of vegetation, as is the case a few degrees further 
south ; but it might be said to be nearly so. A few stunted 
plants were to be seen in the fissures of the rocks, and a little 
soil had been made, seemingly by the crumbling of the stones, 
in which a wiry grass occasionally showed itself. As for the 
mountain, however, it was mostly bare ; and when our party 
began to climb, the ascent was not only difficult, but in places 
dangerous. Roswell had foreseen this, and he had made a pro- 
vision accordingly. In addition to his lance, used as a leaping- 
staff and walking-pike, each man had a small coil of ratlin-stutf 
thrown over his shoulder, in order to help him in difficult 
places, or enable him to help his companions. It was in the 
descent chiefly that these ropes were expected to be of service, 
though their utility was made apparent ere the three reached 
the summit. The ascent of a mountain a thousand feet in 
height is no great exploit under ordinary circumstances. Even 
when there are precipitous cliffs, gorges, ravines, and broken 
masses, youth, activity, and courage will commonly overcome 


270 


THE SEA LIONS. 


all the difficulties, placing the foot of man on eminences that 
nature would appear to have intended solely for the dominion 
of the goat. Thus did it turn out with the three sealers, all 
of whom stood on the bald cap of that mountain, after a vig- 
orous and somewhat hazardous ascent, that occupied rather 
more than an hour. They had greatly aided each other in 
achieving their purpose, to be sure ; and the ratlin-stuff was 
found of use on more than one occasion. 

An extraordinary, and, considering the accessories, a most 
brilliant view, rewarded the adventurers. But, after a few min- 
utes passed in pure admiration of what they beheld, the minds 
of all three adverted to the parts which gave such unusual 
splendor to the panorama. Icebergs were visible on all sides 
of them, the great bay excepted ; and the group was surround- 
ed by them, in a way that would seem to proclaim a blockade. 
At that season, the south winds prevailed, though changes were 
frequent and sudden, and the vast frozen fleet was drifting north. 
Gardiner saw that the passage by which he had brought in his 
schooner was now completely closed, and that the only means 
of exit from the bay was by its northern outlet. The great 
depth of the bergs still prevented their coming within the clus- 
ter of islands, while their number and size completely stopped 
the floes from passing. 

To the northward, the sea was much more open. Gardiner 
and Daggett both thought, as they gazed in that direction, that 
it would be easy enough to take a vessel through the difficul- 
ties of the navigation, and that a good run of eight-and-forty 
hours would carry her quite beyond the crowded ice. This 
sight awakened some regrets in the two masters, that they were 
not then in a condition to depart. 

“ I am almost sorry that we have made a holiday of the Sun- 
day,” said Daggett, seating himself on a point of rock, to get a 
little rest after so fatiguing an ascent. “Every minute of time 
is precious to men in our situation.” 

“ Every minute of time is precious to all men. Captain Dag- 


THE SEA LIONS. 


271 


gett, in another and a still more important sense, if they did 
but know it,” put in Stimson, with a zealous freedom, and a 
Christian’s earnestness. 

“ I understand you, Stephen, and will not gainsay it. But a 
sealin’ v’y’ge is no place, after all, for a man to give himself up 
to Sabbaths and religion.” 

“ All places are good, sir, and all hours Sabbaths, when the 
heart is in the true state. God is on this naked rock, as he is 
on the Vineyard ; and a thought, or a syllable, in his praise, on 
this mountain, are as pleasant to him as them that arise from 
churches and priests.” 

“ I believe it is, at least, a mistake in policy to give the men 
no day of rest,” said Roswell, quietly. “ Though not prepared 
to carry matters as far as my friend Stephen here, I agree with 
him entirely in thaty 

“ And not in believing, sir, that the Spirit of God is on this 
island ?” 

“ In that too, certainly. Neither Captain Daggett nor myself 
will be disposed to dispute either of these two propositions, I 
think, when we come to reflect on them. A day of rest would 
seem to be appointed by nature ; and I make no doubt we have 
filled up all the sooner for having observed one. Seamen have 
so many calls on their time which cannot be neglected, that it 
is unwise in them to increase the number unnecessarily.” 

“ This is not the spirit. Captain Gar’ner, I’m sorry to say, in 
which we should keep our day of rest, though it is well that 
we keep it at all. I’m no stickler for houses and congregations, 
though they are good enough in their times and seasons ; for 
every man has a tabernacle in his own heart, if he’s disposed 
to worship.” 

“ And if any place on earth can particularly incline one to 
worship God, surely it must be some such spot as this !” ex- 
claimed Roswell, with a degree of fervor it was not usual for 
him to exhibit. “ Never in my life have my eyes seen a sight 
as remarkable and as glorious as this I” 


272 


THE SEA LIONS. 


Well might our young mariner thus exclaim. The day was 
fine for the region, but marked by the caprice and changeful 
light of high latitudes. There was mist in places, and flurries 
of snow were to be seen to the southward, while the ocean to 
the northward of the group was glittering under the brightness 
of an unclouded sun. It was the mixed character of this scene 
that rendered it so peculiar, while its grandeur, sublimity, and 
even beauty, were found in its vastness, its noble though wild 
accessories, its frozen and floating mountains, glowing in pris- 
matic light, and the play of summer on the features of an 
antarctic view. 

“ ’Tis a remarkable spot, as no one can deny,” answered 
Daggett ; “ but I like its abundance of seal the most of all. I 
cannot say 1 have much taste for sights, unless they bring the 
promise of good profit with them. We Vineyarders live in a 
small way, and are not rich enough to take delight in land- 
scapes.” 

“Serve God, and reverence his holy name,” said Stimson, 
earnestly, “ and all places will be good to look upon. I have 
been on the Vineyard in my time, and have never found any 
difference as to the spot, so long as the heart is right.” 

“ A poor man must work,” answered Daggett, dropping his 
eyes from the more distant and gorgeous views of the drifting 
ice-mountains, to the rocky shore, that was still frequented by 
thousands of seals, some of the largest of which might be seen, 
even from that elevation, waddling about ; “ ay, a poor man 
must work, Sundays or no Sundays ; and he who would make 
his hay, must do it while the sun shines. I like meetin’-goin’ 
at the right place, and sealin’ when sealin’ ought to be done. 
This day is lost, I fear, and I hope we shall not have reason to 
regret it.” 

Stimson did not abandon what he conceived to be his duty, 
but answered this cold, worldly spirit in the best manner his 
uncultivated speech enabled him to do. But his words were 
thrown away on Daggett. The lust of gold was strong within 


THE SEA LIONS. 


273 


him ; and while that has full dominion over the heart, it is 
vain to expect that any purely spiritual fruits will ripen there. 
Daggett was an instance of what, we fear, many thousands re- 
sembling him might be found, up and down the land, of a man 
energetic by temperament, industrious by habit, and even mod- 
erate in his views, but whose whole existence is concentrated in 
the accumulation of property. Born poor, and in a state of 
society in which no one other generally recognized mode of 
distinction is so universally acknowledged as that of the pos- 
session of money, it is not surprising that a man of his native 
disposition should early bend all his faculties to this one great 
object. He was not a miser, like Deacon Pratt, for he could 
spend freely, on occasion, and perfectly understood the necessity 
of making liberal outfits to insure ample returns ; but he lived 
for little else than for gain. What such a man might have be- 
come, under more favorable auspices, and with diflferent desires 
instilled into his youthful mind, it is not easy to say ; it is only 
certain that, as he was, the steel-trap is not quicker to spring at 
the touch, than he was to arouse all his manifold energies at 
the hopes or promise of profit. As his whole life had been 
passed in one calling, it was but natural that his thoughts 
should most easily revert to the returns that calling had so 
often given. He never dreamed of speculations, knew nothing 
of stocks, had no concern with manufactures in cotton or wool, 
nor had any other notion of wealth than the possession of a 
good farm on the Vineyard, a reasonable amount of money “at 
use,” certain interests in coasters, whalers, and sealers, and a 
sufificiency of household effects, and this in a very modest way, 
to make himself and family comfortable. Notwithstanding this 
seeming moderation, Daggett was an intensely covetous man *, 
but his wishes were limited by his habits. 

While one of the masters of the sealing crafts was drawing 
these pictures, in his imagination, of wealth after his manner, 
very different were the thoughts of the other. Roswell’s fancy 
carried him far across that blue and sparkling ocean, north- 

12 ^ 


274 


THE SEA LIONS. 


ward, to Oyster Pond, and Deacon Pratt’s homestead, and to 
Mary. He saw the last in her single-hearted simplicity, her 
maiden modesty, her youthful beauty, — nay, even in her un- 
yielding piety ; for, singular as it may seem, Gardiner valued his 
mistress so much the more for that very faith to which, in his 
own person, he laid no claim. Irreligious he was not, himself, 
though skeptical on the one great tenet of Christianity. But, 
in Mary, it struck him it was right that she should believe that 
which she had been so sedulously taught ; for he did not at all 
fancy those inquiring minds, in the other sex, that lead their 
possessors in quest of novelties and paradoxes. In this humor, 
then, the reader will not be surprised to hear that he imagined 
the deacon’s niece in her most pleasing attributes, and bedecked 
her with all those charms that render maidens pleasant to 
youthful lovers. Had Mary been less devout, less fixed in her 
belief that Jesus was the Son of God, strange as it may seem, 
the skeptical young man would have loved her less. 

And what was that rugged, uncultivated seaman, who stood 
near the two officers, thinking of, all this time ? Did he, too, 
bend his thoughts on love, and profit, and the pleasures of this 
world ? Of love, most truly, was his heart full to overfiowing ; 
but it was the love of God, with that affection for all his crea- 
tures, that benevolence and faith, which glow as warmly in the 
hearts of the humblest and least educated, as in those of the 
great and learned. His mind was turned towards his Creator, 
and it converted the extraordinary view that lay before his sight 
into a vast, magnificent, gorgeous, though wild temple, for his 
worship and honor. It might be well for all of us occasionally 
to pause in our eager pursuit of worldly objects, and look 
around on the world itself, considering it as but a particle in 
the illimitable fields of creation, — one among the many thou- 
sands of other known worlds, that have been set in their 
places in honor of the hand that made them. These brief but 
vivid glances at the immensity of the moral space which sep- 
arates man from his Deity, have very healthful effects in incul- 


THE SEA LIONS. 275 

eating that humility which is the stepping-stone of faith 
and love. 

After passing an hour on the bald cap of the mountain, 
sometimes conversing, at others ruminating on the scene, a 
change in the weather induced our party to move. There had 
been flurries of snow visible all the morning, but it was in the 
distance, and among the glittering bergs. Once the volcano 
had thus been shut in from view ; but now a driving cloud 
passed over the mountain itself, which was quicldy as white as 
the pure element could make it. So heavy was the fall of 
snow, that it was soon impossible to see a dozen yards, and of 
course the whole of the plain of the island was concealed. At 
this most inauspicious moment, our adventurers undertook their 
descent. 

It is always much less dangerous to mount an acclivity than 
to go down it. The upper progress is easily enough arrested, 
while that in the other direction is frequently too rapid to be 
under perfect command. Roswell felt the truth of this, and 
would have proposed a delay until the atmosphere became 
clear again, but it struck him that this was not likely to occur 
very soon. He followed Daggett, therefore, though reluctantly, 
and with due caution. Stimson brought up the rear. 

For the first ten minutes our adventurers got along without 
any great difficulty. They found the precise point at which 
they had reached the summit of the mountain, and began to 
descend. It was soon apparent that great caution must be 
used, the snow rendering the footing slippery. Daggett, how- 
ever, was a bold and hot-blooded man when in motion, and 
he preceded the party some little distance, calling out to those 
behind him to come on without tear. This the last did, 
though it was with a good deal more caution than was ob- 
served by their leader. At length all three reached a spot 
where it seemed they could not overcome the difficulties. Be- 
neath them was the smooth face of a rock already covered with 
snow, while they could not see far enough in advance to ascer* 


276 


THE SEA LIONS. 


tain in what this inclined plane terminated. Daggett, however, 
insisted that he knew the spot ; that they had passed up it. 
There was a broad shelf a short distance below them ; and once 
on that shelf, it would be necessary to make a considerable cir- 
cuit in order to reach a certain ravine, down which the path 
would be reasonably easy. All remembered the shelf and the 
ravine ; the question was merely whether the first lay beneath 
them, and as near as Daggett supposed. A mistaken confi- 
dence beset the last, and he carried this feeling so far as to de- 
cline taking the end of a line which Roswell threw to him, but 
seated himself on the snow and slid downward, passing almost 
immediately out of sight. 

“What has become of him?” demanded Roswell, endeavor- 
ing to pierce the air by straining his eyeballs. “ He is not to 
be seen !” 

“ Hold on to the line, sir, and give me the other end of it ; I 
will go and see,” answered Stimson. 

It being obviously the most hazardous to remain to the last, 
and descend without the support of one above him, Roswell ac- 
quiesced in this proposal, lowering the boat-steerer down the 
rock, until he too was hid from his sight But, though out of 
sight in that dense snow-storm, Stimson was not so distant as 
to be beyond the reach of the voice. 

“ Go more to the right, sir,” called out the seaman, “ and 
steady me with the line along with you.” 

This was done, the walking being suflSciently secure at the 
elevation where Roswell was. Presently, Stimson shook the 
line, and called out again. 

“ That will do, Captain Gar’ner,” he said. “ I am on the 
shelf now^ and have pretty good footing. Lay the line down 
on the snow, sir, and slide as slowly as you can ; mind and keep 
close at its side. I’ll stand by to fetch you up.” 

Gardiner understood all this perfectly, and did as he was de- 
sired to do. By keeping near the line he reached the shelf 
precisely at the spot where Stimson was ready to meet him ; 


THE SEA LIONS. 


277 


the latter arresting his downward movement by throwing the 
weight of his own body forward to meet his officer. By such 
a precaution Roswell was stopped in time, else would he have 
gone over the shelf, and down a declivity that was so nearly 
perpendicular as to offer no means of arresting the movement. 

“ And what has become of Captain Daggett ?” demanded 
Gardiner, as soon as on his feet again. 

“ I fear he has shot off the rock, sir,” was the answer. “ At 
the place where I reached this shelf, it was so narrow I could 
with great difficulty walk — could not, indeed, had not the line 
been there to steady me; and, judging from the marks in the 
snow, the poor man has gone down helpless !” 

This was appalling intelligence to receive at such a time, and 
in such a place. But Roswell was not unmanned by it ; on 
the contrary, he acted coolly, and with great judgment. Mak- 
ing a coil of the ratlin-stuff, he threw the line down until cer- 
tain it reached bottom, at the distance of about six fathoms. 
Then he caused Stimson to brace himself firmly, holding on to 
the line, aided by a turn round a rise in the rock, and he boldly 
lowered himself down the precipice, reaching its base at about 
the distance he had calculated so to do. 

It still snowed violently, the flakes being large, and eddying 
round the angles of the rocks, in flurries so violent as, at mo- 
ments, to confound all the senses of the young man. He was 
resolute, however, and bent on an object of humanity, as well 
as of good fellowship. Living or dead, Daggett must be some- 
where on his present level ; and he began to grope his way 
among the fragments of rock, eager and solicitous. The roaring 
of the wind almost prevented his hearing other sounds ; though 
once or twice he heard, or fancied that he heard, the shouts of 
Stimson from above. Suddenly the wind ceased, the snow les- 
sened in quantity, soon clearing away altogether ; and the rays 
of the sun — and this in the dog-days of that region, be it remem- 
bered — fell bright and genial on the glittering scene. At the 
next instant, the eyes of Roswell fell on the object of his search. 


2Y8 


THE SEA LIONS. 


Daggett had been carried over the narrow shelf on which 
Stimson landed, in consequence of his having no support, or 
any means of arresting his momentum. He did thrust forward 
his lance, or leaping-staff; but its point met nothing but air. 
The fall, however, was by no means perpendicular, several pro- 
jections of the rocks helping to lessen it ; though it is probable 
that the life of the unfortunate sealer was saved altogether by 
means of the lance. This was beneath him as he made his 
final descent, and he slid along it the whole length, canting 
him into a spot where was the only piece of stinted vegetation 
that was to be seen for a considerable distance. In consequence 
of coming down on a tolerably thick bunch of furze, the fall was 
essentially broken. 

When Roswell reached his unfortunate companion, the lat- 
ter was perfectly sensible, and quite cool. 

“ God be thanked that you have found me, Gar’ner,” he said ; 
“ at one time I had given it up.” 

“ Thank God, also, that you are living, my friend,” answered 
the other. “ I expected only to find your body ; but you do 
not seem to be much hurt.” 

“ More than appears, Gar’ner ; more than appears. My left 
leg is broken, certainly ; and one of my shoulders pains me a 
good deal, though it is neither out of joint or broken. This is 
a sad business for a sealing v’y’ge !” 

“ Give yourself no concern about your craft, Daggett — I wdll 
look to her, and to your voyage.” 

“Will you stand by the schooner, Gar’ner? — Promise me 
that, and my mind will be at peace.” 

“ I do promise. The two vessels shall stick together, at all 
events until we are clear of the ice.” 

“ Ay, but that won’t do. My Sea Lion must be filled up as 
well as your own. Promise me 

“ It shall be done, God willing. But here comes Stimson ; 
the first thing will be to get you out of this spot.” 

Daggett was obviously relieved by Roswell’s pledges ; tor 


THE SEA LIONS. 


279 


amid the anguish and apprehensions of his unexpected state, 
his thoughts had most keenly adverted to his vessel and her 
tortiines. Now that his mind was somewhat relieved on this 
score, the pains of his body became more sensibly felt. The 
situation of our party was sufficiently embarrassing. The leg of 
Daggett was certainly broken, a little distance above his ankle ; 
and various bruises in other places, gave notice of the existence 
of other injuries. To do any thing with the poor man, lying 
where he was, was out of the question, however ; and the first 
thing was to remove the sufferer to a more eligible position. 
Fortunately it was no great distance to the foot of dlie moun- 
tain, and a low level piece of rock was accessible, by means of 
care and steady feet. Daggett was raised between Roswell and 
Stimson in a sitting attitude, and supporting himself by putting 
an arm around the neck of each. The legs hung down, the 
broken as well as the sound limb. To this accidental circum- 
stance the sufferer was indebted to a piece of incidental sur- 
gery that proved of infinite service to him. While dangling in 
this manner the bone got into its place, and Daggett instantly 
became aware of that important fact, which was immediately 
communicated to Roswell. Of course the future mode of pro- 
ceeding was regulated by this agreeable piece of information. 

Sailors are often required to act as physicians, surgeons, and 
priests. It is not often that they excel in either capacity ; but, 
in consequence of the many things they are called to turn their 
hands to, it does generally happen that they get to possess a 
certain amount of address that renders them far more dex- 
terous, in nearly every thing they undertake, than the gener- 
ality of those who are equally strangers to the particular act 
that is thus to be exercised. Roswell had set one or two limbs 
already, and had a tolerable notion of the manner of treating 
the case. Daggett was now seated on a rock at the base of the 
mountain, with his legs still hanging down, and his back sup- 
ported by another rock. No sooner was he thus placed, than 
Stimson was dispatched, post-haste, for assistance. His instruc- 


280 


THE SEA LIONS. 


tions were full, and the honest fellow set off at a rate that 
promised as early relief as the circumstances would at all allow. 

As for our hero, he set about his most important office the 
instant Stimson left him. Daggett aided with his counsel, 
and a little by his personal exertions ; for a seaman does not 
lie down passively, when any thing can be done, even in his 
own case. 

Baring the limb, Roswell soon satisfied himself that the bone 
had worked itself into place. Bandages were instantly ap- 
plied to keep it there while splints were making. It was, per- 
haps, a little characteristic that Daggett took out his knife, 
and aided in shaving down these splints to the necessary form 
and thickness. They were made out of the staff of the broken 
lance, and were soon completed. Roswell manifested a good 
deal of dexterity and judgment in applying the splints. The 
handkerchiefs were used to relieve the pressure in places, and 
rope-yarns from the ratlin-stuff* furnished the means of securing 
every thing in its place. In half an hour, Roswell had his job 
completed, and that before there was much swelling to interfere 
with him. As soon as the broken limb was thus attended to, 
it was carefully raised, and laid upon the rock along with its 
fellow, a horizontal position being deemed better than one that 
was perpendicular. 

Not less than four painful hours now passed, ere the gang of 
hands from the vessels reached the base of the mountain. It 
came prepared, however, to transport the sufferer on a hand- 
barrow that had been used in conveying the skins of seal across 
the rocks. On this barrow Daggett was now carefully placed, 
when four men lifted him up, and walked away with him for a 
few hundred yards. These were then relieved by four more ; 
and in this manner was the whole distance to the house 
passed over. The patient was put in his bunk, and some atten- 
tion was bestowed on his bruises and other injuries. 

Glad enough was the sufferer to find himself beneath a roof, 
and in a room that had its comforts ; or what were deemed 


THE SEA LIONS. 


281 


comforts on a sealing voyage. As the men were in the dor- 
mitory very little of the time except at night, he was enabled 
to sleep; and Roswell had hopes, as he now told Stimson, 
that a month or six weeks would set the patient on his feet 
again. 

“ He has been a fortunate fellow, Stephen, that it was no 
worse,” added Roswell, on that occasion. “ But for the luck 
which turned the lance-pole beneath him, every hone he has 
would have been broken.” 

“ What you call luck^ Captain Gar’ner, I call Providence^' 
was Stephen’s answer. “ The great book tells us that not a 
sparrow shall fall without the eye of Divine Providence being 
on it.” 


282 


THE SEA LIONS. 


CHAPTER XVIII. 

“ Now far he SAveeps, where scarce a summer smiles, 

On Behring’s rocks, or Greenland’s naked isles ; 

Cold on his midnight watch the breezes blow, 

From wastes that slumber in eternal snow. 

And waft across the waves’ tumultuous roar. 

The wolfs long howl from Oonalaska’s shore.” 

Campbell. 

Roswell Gardiner set about his duties, the succeeding day, 
with a shade of deep reflection on his brow. A crisis had, in- 
deed, come in his affairs, and it behooved him to look well to 
his proceedings. Daggett’s presence on the island was no 
longer of any moment to himself or his owner, but there re- 
mained the secret of the key, and of the buried treasure. 
Should the two schooners keep together, how was he to acquit 
himself in that part of his duty, without admitting of a part- 
nership, against which he knew that every fibre in the deacon’s 
system, whether physical or moral, would revolt. Still, his word 
was pledged, and he had no choice but to remain, and help fill 
up the rival Sea Lion, and trust to his own address in getting 
rid of her again, as the two vessels proceeded north. 

The chief mate of Daggett’s craft, though a good sealer, was 
an impetuous and reckless man, and had more than once found 
fault with the great precautions used, by the orders of Roswell. 
Macy, as this officer was called, was for making a regular on- 
slaught upon the animals, slaying as many as they could at 
once, and then take up the business of curing and trying-out 
as a regular job. He had seen such things done with success, 
and he believed it was the most secure mode of getting along. 
“ Some of these fine mornings,” as he expressed it, “ Captain 



THE SEA LIONS. 


283 


Gar’ner would turn out, and find that his herd was oft’ — gone 
to pasture in some other field.” This was a view of the matter 
with which Roswell did not at all agree. His forbearing and 
cautious policy had produced excellent results so far, and he 
hoped it would continue so to do, until both schooners were 
full. On the morning when the men next went forth, he as 
leader of both crews, therefore, our young master renewed his 
admonitions, pointing out to the new-comers, in particular, the 
great necessity there was of using forbearance, and not to alarm 
the seals more than the work indispensably required. The 
usual number of “ Ay, ay’s, sir !” were given in reply, and the 
gangs went along the rocks, seemingly in a good humor to 
obey these injunctions. 

Circumstances, however, were by no means favorable to giv- 
ing Roswell the same influence over the Vineyard-men as he 
possessed over his own crew. He was a young commander, 
and this was his first voyage in that capacity, as all well knew ; 
then, there had been rivalry and competition between the two 
crafts, which was a feeling not so easily removed ; next, Macy 
felt, and even intimated, that he was the lawful commander of 
his own schooner, in cases in which Daggett was disabled, and 
that the latter had no power to transfer him and his people to 
the authority of any other individual. All these points were 
discussed that day, with some freedom, particularly among the 
Vineyard-men, and especially the last. 

Wisely has it been said that “ the king’s name is a tower of 
strength.” They who have the law on their side, carry with 
them a weight of 'authority that it is not easy to shake by 
means of pure reasoning on right or wrong. Men are much 
inclined to defer to those who are thus armed, legal control 
being ordinarily quite as effective in achieving a victory, as 
having one’s “quarrel just.” In a certain sense, authority in- 
deed becomes justice, and we look to its proper exercise as one 
of the surest means of asserting what “ is right between man 
and man.” 


284 


THE SEA LIONS. 


The commodore says that the critturs are to be treated deli- 
cately,” said Macy, laughing, as he lanced his first seal that 
morning, a young one of the fur species ; “ so take up the pet, 
lads, and lay it in its cradle, while I go to look for its mamma.” 

A shout of merriment succeeded this sally, and the men were 
only so much the more disposed to be rebellious and turbulent, 
in consequence of hearing so much freedom of remark in tbeir 
officer. 

“The child’s in its cradle, Mr. Macy,” returned Jenkins, who 
was a wag as well as the mate. “ In my judgment, the best 
mode of rocking it to sleep will be by knocking over all these 
grim chaps that are so plenty in our neighborhood.” 

“ Let ’em have it !” cried Macy, making an onset on an ele- 
phant, as he issued the order. In an instant, the rocks at that 
point of the island were a scene of excitement and confusion. 
Hazard, who was near at hand, succeeded in restraining his own 
people, but it really seemed as if the Vineyard-men were mad. 
A great many seals were killed, it is true ; but twenty were 
frightened to take refuge in the ocean, where one was slain. 
All animals have their alarm cries, or, if not absolutely cries, 
signals that are understood by themselves. Occasionally, one 
sees a herd, or a flock, take to its heels, or to its wings, without 
any apparent cause, but in obedience to some warning that is 
familiar to their instincts. Thus must it have been with the 
seals ; for the rocks were soon deserted, even at the distance of 
a league from the scene of slaughter, leaving Hazard and his 
gang literally with nothing to do, unless, indeed, they returned 
to complete some stowage that remained to be done, on board 
their own craft. 

“ I suppose you know, Mr. Macy, all this is contrary to or- 
ders,” said Hazard, as he was leading his own gang back 
towards the cove. “You see I am obliged to go in and 
report.” 

“ Report and welcome !” was the answer. “ I have no com- 
mander but Captain Daggett; — and, by the way, if you see 


THE SEA LIONS. 


285 


him, Hazard, just tell him we have made a glorious morning’s 
work of it.” 

“Ay, ay; you will have your hands full enough to-day, 
Macy ; but how will it be to-morrow ?” 

“ Why, just as it has been to-day. The devils must come 
up to blow, and we’re sartin of ’em, somewhere along the shore 
This day’s work is worth any two that I’ve seen, since I came 
upon the island.” 

“Very true; but what will to-morrow’s work be worth? I 
will tell Captain Daggett what you wish me to say, however, 
and we will hear his opinion on the subject. In my judgment, 
he means to command his craft till she gets back to the Hole, 
legs or no legs.” 

Hazard went his way, shaking his head ominously as he pro- 
ceeded. Nor was he much mistaken in what he expected from 
Daggett’s anger. That experienced sealer sent for his mate, 
and soon gave him to understand that he was yet his com- 
mander. Loose and neighborly as is usually the discipline of 
one of these partnership vessels, there is commonly a man on 
board who is every way competent to assert the authority given 
him by the laws, as well as by his contract. Macy was sent 
for, rebuked, and menaced with degradation from his station, 
should he again presume to violate his orders. As commonly 
happens in cases of this nature, regrets were expressed by the 
offender, and future obedience promised. 

But the mischief was done. Sealing was no longer the reg- 
ular, systematic pursuit it had been on that island, but had be- 
come precarious and changeful. At times, the men met with 
good success ; then, days would occur in which not a single 
creature, of any of the different species, would be taken. The 
Vineyard schooner was not more than half full, and the season 
was fast drawing to a close. Roswell was quite ready to sail, 
and he began to chafe a little under the extra hazards that 
were thus imposed on himself and his people. 

In the mean time, or fully three weeks after the occurrence 


286 


THE SEA LIONS. 


of the accident to Daggett, the injuries received by the wound- 
ed man were fast healing. The bones had knit, and the leg 
promised, in another month, to become tolerably sound, if not 
as strong as it had been before the hurt. All the bruises were 
well, and the captain of the Vineyard craft was just beginning 
to move about a little on crutches ; a prodigious relief to one of 
his habits, after the confinement to the house. By dint of great 
care, he could work his way down on the shelf that stretched, 
like a terrace, for two, hundred yards beneath the dwelling. 
Here he met Roswell, on the morning of the Sabbath, just three 
weeks after their unfortunate visit to the mountain. Each took 
his seat on a low point of rock, and they began to converse on 
their respective prospects, and on the condition of their vessels 
and crews. Stephen was near his otficer, as usual. 

“ I believe Stimson was right in urging me to give the men 
their Sabbaths,” observed Gardiner, glancing round at the dif- 
ferent groups, in which the men were washing, shaving, and 
otherwise getting rid of the impurities created by another week 
of toil. “ They begin anew, after a little rest, with a better 
will, and steadier hands.” 

“ Yes, the Sabbath is a great privilege, especially to such as 
are on shore,” returned Daggett. “At sea, I make no great 
account of it ; a craft must jog along, high days or holidays.” 

“ Depend on it, the same account is kept of the day. Captain 
Daggett, in the great log-book above, whether a man is on or 
off soundings,” put in Stephen, who was privileged ever to de- 
liver his sentiments on such subjects. “ The Lord is God on 
the sea, as on the land.” 

There was a pause ; for the solemn manner and undoubted 
sincerity of the speaker produced an impression on his com- 
panions, little given as they were to thinking deeply on things 
of that nature. Then Roswell renewed the discourse, turning 
it on a matter that had been seriously uppermost in his mind 
for several days. 

“ I wish to converse with you. Captain Daggett, about our 


THE SEA LIONS. 


287 


prospects and chances,” he said. “ My schooner is full, as you 
know. We could do no more, if we stayed here another sea- 
son. You are about half full, with a greatly diminished chance 
of filling up this summer. Mr. Macy’s attack on the seals has 
put you back a month, at least, and every day we shall find the 
animals less easy to take. The equinox is not very far oft*, and 
then, you know, we shall get less and less sun, — so little, as to 
be of no great use to us. We want daylight to get through 
the ice, and we shall have a long hundred leagues of it be- 
tween us and clear water, even were we to get under way to- 
morrow. Remember what a serious thing it would be, to get 
caught up here, in so high a latitude, after the sun has left us !” 

“I understand you, Gar’ner,” answered the other quietly, 
though his manner denoted a sort of compelled resignation, 
rather than any cordial acquiescence in that which he believed 
his brother master intended to propose. “ You’re master of 
your own vessel ; and I dare say Deacon Pratt would be much 
rejoiced to see you coming in between Shelter Island and Oys- 
ter Pond, I’m but a cripple, or I think the Vineyard craft 
wouldn’t be many days’ run astarn !” 

Roswell was provoked ; but his pride was touched also. 
Biting his lip, he was silent for a moment, when he spoke very 
much to the point, but generously, and like a man. 

“ I’ll tell you what it is, Daggett,” said our hero, good-fel- 
lowship is good-fellowship, and the flag is the flag. It is the 
duty of all us Yankee seamen to stand by the stripes ; and I 
hope I’m as ready as another to do what I ought to do, in such 
a matter ; but my owner is a dose calculator, and I am much 
inclined to think that he will care less for this sort of feeling 
than you and I. The deacon was never in blue water.” 

“ So I suppose. He has a charming daughter, I believe, 
Gar’ner?” 

“ You mean his niece, I suppose,” answered Roswell, color- 
ing. “The deacon never had any child himself, I believe — at 
least he has none living. Mary Pratt is his niece.” 


288 


THE SEA LIONS, 


“It’s all the same — niece or daughter, she’s comely, and 
will be rich, I hear. Well^ I am 'poor^ and what is more, a 
cripple P'‘ 

Roswell could have knocked his companion down, for he per- 
fectly understood the character of the allusion ; but he had 
sufficient self-command to forbear saying any thing that might 
'betray how much he felt. 

It is always easier to work upon the sensitiveness of a spirit- 
ed and generous-minded man, than to influence him by force or 
apprehensions. Roswell had never liked the idea of leaving 
Daggett behind him, at that season, and in that latitude ; and 
he relished it still less, now that he saw a false reason might be 
attributed to his conduct, 

“You certainly do not dream of wintering here. Captain 
Daggett?” he said, after a pause. 

“ Not if I can help it. But the schooner can never go back 
to the Vineyard without a full hold. The very women would 
make the island too hot for us in such a case. Do your duty 
by Deacon Pratt, Gar’ner, and leave me here to get along as 
well as I can. I shall be able to walk a little in a fortnight ; 
and, in a month, I hope to be well enough to get out among 
the people, and regulate their sealing a little myself. Mr. Macy 
will be more moderate with my eye on him.” 

“ A month ! He who stays here another month may almost 
make up his mind to stay eight more of them ; if, indeed, he 
ever get away from the group at all !” 

“ A late start is better than a half-empty vessel. When you 
get in to Oyster Pond, Gar’ner, I hope you will send a line 
across to the Vineyard, and tell ’em all about us.” 

Another long and brooding pause succeeded, during which 
Roswell’s mind was made up. 

“ I will do this with you, Daggett,” he said, speaking like 
one who had fully decided on his course. “Twenty days 
longer will I remain here, and help to make out your cargo ; 
after which I sail, whether you get another skin or a thousand. 


THE SEA LIONS. 


289 


This will be remaining as long as any prudent man ought to 
stay in so high a latitude.” 

“ Give me your hand, Gar’ner. I knew you had the clear 
stuft in you, aud that it would make itself seen at the proper 
moment. I trust that Providence will favor us — it’s really a 
pity to lose as fine a day as this ; especially as the critturs are 
coming up on the rocks to bask, something like old times.” 

“ You’ll gain no great help ffom that Providence you just 
spoke of. Captain Daggett, by forgetting to keep ‘holy the 
Sabbath,’ ” said Stimson, earnestly. “ Try forbearance a little, 
and find the good that will come of it.” 

“ He is right,” said Roswell, “ as I know from having done 
as he advises. Well, our bargain is made. For twenty days 
longer I stay here, helping you to fill up. That will bring us 
close upon the equinox, when I shall get to the northward as 
fast as I can. In that time, too, I think you will be able to re- 
turn to duty.” 

This, then, was the settled arrangement. Roswell felt that 
he conceded more than he ought to do ; but the feeling of 
good-fellowship was active within him, and he was strongly 
averse to doing any thing that might wear the appearance of 
abandoning a companion in his difficulties. All this time our 
hero was fully aware that he was becoming a competitor ; and 
he was not without his suspicions that Daggett wished to keep 
I him within his view until the visit had been paid to the Key. 

1 Nevertheless, Roswell’s mind was made up. He would remain 
i the twenty days, and do all he could in that time to help along 
: the voyage of the Vineyarders. 

I The sealing was now continued with more order and method 
I than had been observed under Macy’s control. . The old cau- 
I tion was respected, and the work prospered in proportion. 

I Each night, on his return to the house, Gardiner had a good 
I report to make ; and that peculiar snapping of the eye, that de- 
I noted Daggett’s interest in his calling, was to be again traced 
in the expression of the Vineyarder’s features ; a certain proof 

13 


290 


THE SEA LIONS. 


that he was fast falling into his old train of thought and feeling. 
Daggett was never happier than when listening to some account 
of the manner in which an old elephant or lion had been taken, 
or a number of fur-seals had been made to pay their tribute to 
the enterprise and address of his people. 

As for Roswell, though he complied with his promise, and 
carried on the duty with industry and success, his eye was 
constantly turned on those signs that denote the advance of the 
seasons. Now he scanned the ocean to the northward, and 
noted the diminished number as well as lessened size of the 
floating bergs ; proofs that the summer and the waves had 
been at work on their sides. Next, his look was on the sun, 
which was making his daily course, lower and lower, each time 
that he appeared, settling rapidly away towards the north, as if 
in haste to quit a hemisphere that was so little congenial to 
his character. The nights, always cool in that region, began to 
menace frost ; and the signs of the decline of the year that 
come so much later in more temperate climates, began to make 
themselves apparent here. It is true, that of vegetation there 
was so little, and that little so meager and of so hardy a nature, 
that in this respect the progress of the seasons was not to be 
particularly noted ; but in all others, Roswell saw with growing , 
uneasiness that the latest hour of his departure was fast draw- 
ing near. 

The sealing went on the while, and with reasonable returns, 
though the golden days of the business had been seriously in- 
terrupted by Many’s indiscretion and disobedience. The men 
worked hard, for they too foresaw the approach of the long 
night of the antarctic circle, and all the risk of remaining too 
long. As we have had frequent occasion to use the term 
“ antarctic,” it may be well here to say a few words in explana- 
tion. It is not our wish to be understood that these sealers had 
penetrated literally within that belt of eternal snows and ice, 
but approximatively. Few navigators, so far as our knowledge 
extends, have absolutely gone so far south as this. Wilkes did 


THE SEA LIONS. 


291 


it, it is true ; and others among tlie late explorers have been 
equally enterprising and successful. The group visited by Gar- 
diner on this occasion was quite near to this imaginary line ; 
but we do not feel at liberty precisely to give its latitude and 
longitude. To this hour it remains a species of private prop- 
erty ; and in this age of anti-rentism and other audacious inno- 
vations on long-received and venerable rules of conduct, we do 
not choose to be parties to any inroads on the rights of indi- 
viduals when invaded by the cupidity and ruthless power of 
numbers. Those who wish to imitate Roswell must find the 
islands by bold adventure, as he reached them ; for we are 
tongue-tied on the subject. It is enough, therefore, that we say 
the group is near the antarctic circle ; whether a little north or 
a little south of it, is a matter of no moment. As those seas 
have a general character, we shall continue to call them the 
antarctic seas ; with the understanding that, included in the 
term, are the nearest waters without as well as within the circle. 

Glad enough was Roswell Gardiner when his twenty days 
were up. March was now far advanced, and the approach of 
[ the long nights was near. The Vineyard craft was not full, 

I nor was Daggett yet able to walk without a crutch ; but orders 
were issued by Gardiner, on the evening of the last day, for his 
own crew to “ knock off sealing,” and to prepare to get under 
i way for home. 

I “Your mind is made up, Gar’ner,” said Daggett, in a dep- 
recating sort of way, as if he still had latent hopes of per- 
suading his brother-master to remain a little longer. “ Another 
week would almost fill us up.” 

“Not another day,” was the answer. “I have staid too long 
! already, and shall be off in the morning. If you will take my 
i advice. Captain Daggett, you will do the same thing. Winter 
? comes in this latitude very much as spring appears in our 
own ; or, with a hop, skip, and a jump. I have no fancy to 
be groping about among the ice, after the nights get to be 
longer than the days !” 


292 


THE SEA LIONS. 


“ All true enough, Gar’ner ; all quite true — but it has such 
a look to take a craft home, and she not full !” 

“You have a great abundance of provisions ; stop and whale 
awhile on the False Banks, as you go north. I would much 
rather stick by you there a whole month, than remain here 
another day.” 

“You make me narvous talking of the group in this way! 
I’m sartain that this bay must remain clear of ice several weeks 
longer.” 

“ Perhaps it may ; it is more likely to be so than to freeze 
up. But this will not lengthen the days and carry us safe 
through the fields and bergs that we know are drifting about 
out here to the northward. There’s a hundred leagues of ocean 
thereaway, Daggett, that I care for more just now, than for all 
the seal that are left on these islands. But, talking is useless : 
I go to-morrow ; if you are wise, you will sail in company.” 

This settled the matter. Daggett well knew it would be 
useless to remain without the aid of Roswell’s counsel, and that 
of his crew’s hands ; for Macy was not to be trusted any more 
as the leader of a gang of sealers. The man had got to be 
provoked and reckless, and had called down upon himself lat- 
terly more than one rebuke. It was necessary, therefore, that 
one of the Sea Lions should accompany the other. The neces- 
sary orders were issued accordingly, and “ hey for home I” 
were the words that now cheerfully passed from mouth to 
mouth. That pleasant idea of “ home,” in which is concen- 
trated all that is blessed in this life, the pale of the Christian 
duties and charities excepted, brings to each mind its particular 
forms of happiness and good. The weather-beaten seaman, the 
foot-worn soldier, the weary traveller, the adventurer in what- 
ever lands interest or pleasure may lead, equally feels a throb 
in his heart as he hears the welcome sounds of “ hey for 
home.” Never were craft prepared for sea with greater ra- 
pidity than was the case now with our two Sea Lions. It is 
true that the Oyster-Ponders were nearly ready, and had been 


THE SEA LIONS. 


293 


SO for a fortnight ; but a good deal remained to be done 
among the Vineyarders. The last set themselves to their task 
with a hearty good-will, however, and with corresponding re- 
sults. 

“We will leave the house standing for them that come after 
us,” said Roswell, when the last article belonging to his 
schooner was taken out of it. “ The deacon has crammed us 
so full of wood that I shall be tempted to throw half of it over- 
board, now we have so much cargo. Let all stand. Hazard, 
bunks, planks, and all ; for really we have no room for the ma- 
terials. Even this wood,” pointing to a pile of several cords that 
had been landed already to make room for skins and casks 
that had been brought out in shocks, “ must go to the next 
comer. Perhaps it may be one of ourselves; for we sailors 
I never know what port will next fetch us up.” 

! “ I hope it will be old Sag, sir,” answered Hazard, cheerfully ; 

j “for, though no great matter of a seaport, it is near every man’s 
home, and may be called a sort of door-way to go in and out 
of the country through.” 

“ A side-door, at the best,” answered Roswell. “ With you, 
I trust it will be the next haven that we enter ; though I shall take 
the schooner at once in behind Shelter Island, and tie her up 
to the deacon’s wharf.” 

What images of the past and future did these few jocular 
words awaken in the mind of our young sealer ! He fancied 
that he saw Mary standing in the porch of her uncle’s habita- 
tion, a witness of the approach of the schooner, looking wist- 
fully at the still indistinct images of those who were to be seen on 
her decks. Mary had often done this in her dreams ; again 
and again had she beheld the white sails of the Sea Lion 
driving across Gardiner’s Bay, and entering Peconic ; and often 
had she thus gazed in the weather-worn countenance of him 
who occupied so much of her thoughts — so many of her pray- 
ers — picturing through the mysterious images of sleep the ob- 
ject she so well loved when waking. 


294 


THE SEA LIONS. 


And where was Mary Pratt at that day and hour when Ros- 
well was thus issuing his last orders at Sealer’s Land ; and 
what was her occupation, and what her thoughts ? The dif- 
ference in longitude between the group and Mon tank was so 
trifling that the hour might be almost called identical. Liter- 
ally so, it was not ; but mainly so, it was. There were not the 
five degrees in difterence that make the twenty minutes in 
time. More than this we are not permitted to say on this sub- 
ject ; and this is quite enough to give the navigator a pretty 
near notion of the position of the group. As a degree of longi- 
tude measures less than twenty-eight statute miles at the polar 
circles, this is coming within a day’s run of the spot, so far as 
longitude is concerned ; and nearer than that we do not intend 
to carry the over-anxious reader, let his curiosity be as lively 
as it may. 

And where, then, was Mary Pratt ? Safe, well, and reason- 
ably happy, in the house of her uncle, where she had passed most 
of her time since infancy. The female friends of mariners 
have always fruitful sources of uneasiness in the pursuit itself ; 
but Mary had no other cause for concern of this nature than 
what was inseparable from so long a voyage, and the sea into 
which Roswell had gone. She well knew that the time was 
arrived when he was expected to be on his way home ; and as 
hope is an active and beguiling feeling, she already fancied him 
to be much advanced on his return. But a dialogue which 
took place that very day — nay, that very hour — between her 
and the deacon, will best explain her views and opinions, and 
expectations. 

“ It’s very extr’or’nary, Mary,” commenced the uncle, “ that 
Gar’ner doesn’t write ! If he only know’d how a man feels 
when his property is ten thousand miles off. I’m sartain he 
would write, and not leave me with so many misgivings in the 
matter.” 

“ By whom is he to write, uncle ?” answered the more con- 
siderate and reasonable niece. “ There are no post-offices in 


THE SEA LIONS. 


295 


the antarctic seas, nor any travellers to bring letters by private 
hands.” 

“ But he did write once ; and plaguy good news was it that 
he sent us in that letter !” 

“ He did write from Rio, for there he had the means. By 
my calculations, Roswell has left his sealing-ground some three 
or four weeks, and must now be as many thousand miles on 
his way home.” 

“D’ye think so, gal’ — d’ye think so?” exclaimed the dea- 
con, his eyes fairly twinkling with pleasure. “ That would be 
good news 5 and if he doesn’t stop too long by the way, we 
might look for him home in less than ninety days from this 
moment !” 

Mary smiled pensively, and a richer color stole into her 
cheeks, slowly but distinctly. 

“ I do not think, uncle, that Roswell Gardiner will be very 
likely to stop on his way to us here, on Oyster Pond,” was the 
answer she made. 

“ I should be sorry to think that. The best part of his v’y’ge 
may be made in the West Ingees, and I hope he is not a man 
to overlook his instructions.” 

“Will Roswell be obliged to stop in the West Indies, uncle !” 

“Sartain — if he obeys his orders; and I think the young 
man will do that. But the business there will not detain him 
long,” — Mary’s countenance brightened again, at this remark, 
— “ and, should you be right, we may still look for him in the 
next ninety days.” 

Mary remained silent for a short time, but her charming 
face was illuminated by an expression of heartfelt happiness, 
which, however, the next remark of her uncle’s had an obvious 
tendency to disturb. 

“ Should Gar’ner come home successful, Mary,” inquired the 
deacon — “successful in all thing’s — successful in sealing, and 
successful in that other matter — the West Ingee business, I 
mean — but successful in all, as I daily pray he may be, — I want 


296 


THE SEA LIONS. 


to know if you would then have him ; always supposing that 
he got back himself unchanged?” 

“Unchanged, I shall never be his wife,” answered Mary, 
tremulously, but firmly. 

The deacon looked at her in surprise ; for he had never com- 
prehended but one reason why the orphan and penniless Mary 
should refuse so pertinaciously to become the wife of Roswell 
Gardiner; and that was his own want of means. Now the 
deacon loved Mary more than he was aware of himself, but he 
had never actually made up his mind to leave her the heiress 
of his estate. The idea of parting with property at all, was too 
painful for him to think of making a will ; and without such 
an instrument, there were others who would have come in for a 
part of the assets, “ share and share alike,” as the legal men 
express it. Of all this was the deacon fully aware, and it oc- 
casionally troubled him : more of late than formerly, since he 
felt in his system the unerring signs of decay. Once had he 
got so far as to write on a page of foolscap, “ In the name of 
God, Amen ;” but the effort proved too great for him, and he 
abandoned the undertaking. Still Deacon Pratt loved his niece, 
and was well inclined to see her become the wife of “ young 
Gar’ner,” more especially should the last return successful. 

“Unchanged!” repeated the uncle, slowly; “you sartainly 
would not wish to marry him, Mary, if he was changed !" 

“ I do not mean changed, in the sense you are thinking of, 
uncle. But we will not talk of this now. Why should Ros- 
well stop in the West Indies at all ? It is not usual for our 
vessels to stop there.” 

“ No, it is not. If Gar’ner stop at all, it will be on a very 
unusual business, and one that may make all our fortunes — 
your’n, as well as his’n and mine, Mary.” 

“ I hope that sealers never meddle with the transportation of 
slaves, uncle 1” the girl exclaimed, with a face filled with appre- 
hension. “ I would rather live and die poor, than have any 
thing to do with them !” 


THE SEA LIONS. 


297 


“ I see no such great harm in the trade, gal ; but such is not 
Roswell’s ar’nd in the West Ingees. It’s a great secret, the rea- 
son of his call there ; and I will venture to foretell that, should 
he make it, and should it turn out successful, you will marry 
him, gal.” 

Mary made no reply. Well was she assured that Roswell 
had an advocate in her own heart, that was pleading for him, 
tight and day ; but firm was her determination not to unite 
herself with one, however dear to her, who set up his own fee- 
ble understanding of the nature of the mediation between God 
and man, in opposition to the plainest language of revelation, 
as well as to the prevalent belief of the church, since the ages 
that immediately succeeded the Christian era. 

13 ^ 


298 


THE SEA LIONS. 


CHAPTER XIX. 

Poor child of danger nursling of the storna, 

Sad are the woes that wreck thy manly form I 
Bocks, waves, and winds the shatter’d bark delay ; 

Thy heart is sad, thy home is far away.” 

Campbell. 

It was about midday, when the two Sea Lions opened their 
canvas, at the same moment, and prepared to quit Sealer’s 
Land. All hands were on board, every article was shipped for 
which there was room, and nothing remained that denoted the 
former presence of man on that dreary island, but the deserted 
house, and three or four piles of cord-wood, that had grown on 
Shelter Island and Martha’s Vineyard, and which was now 
abandoned on the rocks of the antarctic circle. As the top- 
sails were sheeted home, and the heavy fore-and-aft mainsails 
were hoisted, the songs of the men sounded cheerful and ani- 
mating. “ Home” was in every tone, each movement, all the 
orders. Daggett was on deck, in full command, though still 
careful of his limb, while Roswell appeared to be everywhere. 
Mary Pratt was before his mind’s eye all that morning ; nor 
did he even once think how pleasant it would be to meet her 
uncle, with a “ There, deacon, is your schooner, with a good 
cargo of elephant oil, well chucked off with fur-seal skins.” 

The Oyster Pond craft was the first clear of the ground. The 
breeze was little felt in that cove, where usually it did not seem 
to blow at all, but there was wind enough to serve to cast the 
schooner, and she went slowly out of the rocky basin, under 
her mainsail, foretopsail, and jib. The wind was at south- 
west, — the nor-wester of that hemisphere, — and it was fresh 


THE SEA LIONS. 


299 


and howling enough, on the other side of the island. After 
Roswell had made a stretch out into the bay of about a mile, 
he laid his foretopsail flat aback, hauled over his jib-sheet, and 
put his helm hard down, in waiting for the other schooner to 
come out and join him. In a quarter of an hour, Daggett got 
within hail. 

“Well,” called out the last, “you see I was right, Gar’ner; 
wind enough out here, and more, still further from the land. 
We have only to push in among them bergs while it is light, 
pick out a clear spot, and heave-to during the night. It will 
hardly do for us to travel among so much ice in the dark.” 

“ I wish we had got out earlier, that we might have made a 
run of it by daylight,” answered Roswell. “ Ten hours of 
such a wind, in my judgment, would carry us well towards 
clear water.” 

“The delay could not be helped. I had so many traps 
ashore, it took time to gather them together. Come, All away, 
and let us be moving. Now we are under way. I’m in as great 
haste as you are yourself.” 

Roswell complied, and away the two schooners went, keep- 
ing quite near to each other, having smooth water, and still 
something of a moderated gale, in consequence of the proxim- 
ity and Weatherly position of the island. The course was to- 
wards a spot to leeward, where the largest opening appeared in 
the ice, and where it was hoped a passage to the northward 
would be found. The further the two vessels got from the 
land, the more they felt the power of the wind, and the greater 
was their rate of running. Daggett soon found that he could 
spare his consort a good deal of canvas, a consequence of his 
not being full, and he took in his topsail; though, running 
nearly before the wind, his spar would have stood even a more 
severe strain. 

As the oldest mariner, it had been agreed between the two 
masters that Daggett should lead the way. This he did for an 
hour, when both vessels were fairly out of the great bay, clear 


300 


THE SEA LIONS. 


of the gioup altogether, and running off northeasterly, at a 
rate of nearly ten knots in the hour. The sea got up as they 
receded from the land, and every thing indicated a gale, though 
one of no great violence. Night was approaching, and an Al- 
pine-like range of icebergs was glowing, to the northward, 
under the oblique rays of the setting sun. For a considerable 
space around the vessels, the water was clear, not even a cake 
of any sort being to be seen ; and the question arose in Dag- 
gett’s mind, whether he ought to stand on, or to heave-to and 
pass the night well to windward of the bergs. Time was pre- 
cious, the wind was fair, the heavens clear, and the moon would 
make its appearance about nine, and might be expected to re- 
main above the horizon until the return of day. This was one 
side of the picture. The other presented less agreeable points. 
The climate was so fickle, that the clearness of the skies was 
not to be depended on, especially with a strong southwest wind 
— a little gale, in fact ; and a change in this particular might 
be produced at any moment. Then it was certain that floes, 
and fragments of bergs, would be found near, if not absolutely 
among the sublime mountain-like piles that were floating about, 
in a species of grand fleet, some twenty miles to leeward. Both 
of our masters, indeed all on board of each schooner, very well 
understood that the magnificent array of icy islands which lay 
before them was owing to the currents, for which it is not 
always easy to account. The clear space was to be attributed 
to the same cause, though there was little doubt that the wind, 
which had now been to the southward fully eight-and-forty 
hours, had contributed to drive the icy fleet to the northward. 
As a consequence of these facts, the field-ice must be in the 
vicinity of the bergs, and the embarrassment from that source 
was known always to be very great. 

It required a good deal of nerve for a mariner to run in 
among dangers of the charactei* just described, as the sun was 
setting. Nevertheless, Daggett did it ; and Roswell Gardiner 
followed the movement, at the distance of about a cable’s 


THE SEA LIONS. 


301 


length. To prevent separation, each schooner showed a light 
at the lower yard-arm, just as the day was giving out its last 
glimmerings. As yet, however, no difficulty was encountered ; 
the Alpine-looking range being yet quite two hours’ run still to 
leeward. Those two hours must be passed in darkness ; and 
Daggett shortened sail in order not to reach the ice before the 
moon rose. He had endeavored to profit by the light as long 
as it remained, to find a place at which he might venture to 
enter among the bergs, but had met with no great success. The 
opening first seen now appeared to be closed, either by means 
of the drift or by means of the change in the position of the 
vessels ; and he no longer thought of that. Fortune must be 
trusted to, in some measure ; and on he went, Roswell always 
closely following. 

The early hours of that eventful night were intensely dark. 
Nevertheless, Daggett stood down towards the icy range, using 
no other precautions than shortening sail and keeping a sharp 
look-out. Every five minutes the call from the quarter-deck of 
each schooner to “ keep a bright look-out” was heard, unless, 
indeed, Daggett or Roswell was on his own forecastle, thus oc- 
cupied in person. No one on board of either vessel thought of 
sleep. The watch had been called, as is usual at sea, and one 
half of the crew was at liberty to go below and turn in. What 
was more, those small fore-and-aft rigged craft w'ere readily 
enough handled by a single watch ; and this so much the more 
easily, now that their topsails were in. Still, not a man left 
the deck. Anxiety was too prevalent for this, the least expe- 
rienced hand in either crew being well aware that the next 
four-and-twenty hours would, in all human probability, be deci- 
sive of the fate of the voyage. 

Both Daggett and Gardiner grew more and more uneasy as 
the time for the moon to rise drew near, without the orb of 
night making its appearance. A few clouds were driving 
athwart the heavens, though the stars twinkled as usual, in 
their diminutive but sublime splendor. It was not so dark that 


302 


THE SEA LIONS. 


objects could not be seen at a considerable distance ; and the 
people of the schooners had no difficulty in very distinctly 
tracing, and that not very far ahead, the broken outlines of the 
chain of floating mountains. No Alpine pile, in very fact, could 
present a more regular or better defined range, and in some re- 
spects more fantastic outlines. When the bergs first break 
away from their native moorings, their forms are ordinarily 
somewhat regular ; the summits commonly resembling table- 
land. This regularity of shape, however, is soon lost under the 
rays of the summer sun, the wash of the ocean, and most of 
all by the wear of the torrents that gush out of their own fro- 
zen bosoms. A distinguished navigator of our own time has 
compared the appearance of these bergs, after their regularity 
of shape is lost, and they begin to assume the fantastic outlines 
that uniformly succeed, to that of a deserted town, built of the 
purest alabaster, with its edifices crumbling under the seasons, 
and its countless unpeopled streets, avenues, and alleys. All 
who have seen the sight unite in describing it as one of the 
most remarkable that comes from the lavish hand of nature. 

About nine o’clock on the memorable night in question, 
there was a good deal of fog driving over the ocean to increase 
the obscurity. This rendered Daggett doubly cautious, and he 
actually hauled up close to the wind, heading off well to the 
westward, in order to avoid running in among the bergs, in 
greater uncertainty than the circumstances would seem to re- 
quire. Of course Roswell followed the movement ; and when 
the moon first diffused its mild rays on the extraordinary scene, 
the two schooners were pitching into a heavy sea, within less 
than a mile of the weather-line of the range of bergs. It was 
soon apparent that floes or field-ice accompanied the floating 
mountains, and extended so far to the southward of them as to 
be already within an inconvenient if not hazardous proximity to 
the two vessels. These floes, how'ever, unlike those previously 
encountered, were much broken by the undulations of the 
waves, and seldom exceeded a quarter of a mile in diameter; 


THE SEA LIONS. 


303 


while thousands of them were no larger than the ordinary drift 
ice of our own principal rivers in the time of a freshet. Their 
vicinity to the track of the schooners, indeed, was first ascer- 
tained by the noise they produced in grinding against each 
other, which soon made itself audible even above the roaring 
of the gale. 

Both of our masters now began to be exceedingly uncom- 
fortable. It was soon quite apparent that Daggett had been 
too bold, and had led down towards the ice without sufficient 
caution and foresight. As the moon rose, higher and higher, 
the difiiculties and dangers to leeward became at each minute 
more and more apparent. Nothing could have been more 
magnificent than the scene which lay before the eyes of the 
mariners, or would have produced a deeper feeling of delight, 
had it not been for the lively consciousness of the risk the two 
schooners and all who were in them unavoidably ran, by being 
so near and to windward of such an icy coast, if one may use 
the expression as relates to floating bodies. By that light it 
was very easy to imagine Wilkes’ picture of a ruined town of 
alabaster. There were arches of all sizes and orders ; pinnacles 
without number ; towers, and even statues and columns. To 
these were to be added long lines of perpendicular walls, that it 
was easy enough to liken to fortresses, dungeons, and temples. 
In a word, even the Alps, with all their peculiar grandeur, and 
certainly on a scale so vastly more enlarged, possess no one 
aspect that is so remarkable for its resemblance to the labors of 
man, composed of a material of the most beautiful transparency, 
and, considered as the results of human ingenuity, on a scale so 
gigantic. The glaciers have often been likened, and not un- 
justly, to a frozen sea; but here were congealed mountains 
seemingly hewed into all the forms of art, not by the chisel it 
is true, but by the action of the unerring laws which produced 
them. 

Perhaps Roswell Gardiner was the only individual in those 
two vessels that night who was fully alive to all the extraordi- 


304 


THE SEA LIONS. 


nary magnificence of its unusual pictures. Stephen may, in 
some degree, have been an exception to the rule ; though he 
saw the hand of God in nearly all things. “ It’s wonderful to 
look at, Captain Gar’ner, isn’t it ?” said this worthy seaman, 
about the time the light of the moon began to tell on the 
view ; “ wonderful, truly, did we not know who made it all !” 
These few and simple words had a cheering influence on Ros- 
well, and served to increase his confidence in eventual success. 
God did produce all thiugs, either directly or indirectly ; this 
even his skeptical notions could allow ; and that which came 
from divine wisdom must be intended for good. He would take 
courage, and for once in his life trust to Providence. The most 
resolute man by nature feels his courage augmented by such a 
resolution. 

The gales of the antarctic sea are said to be short, though 
violent. They seldom last six-and-thirty hours, and for about 
a third of that time they blow with their greatest violence. As 
a matter of course, the danger amid the ice is much increased 
by a tempest ; though a good working breeze, or small gale of 
wind, perhaps, adds to a vessel’s security, by rendering it easier 
to handle her, and to avoid floes and bergs. If the ice is suf- 
ficient to make a lee, smooth water is sometimes a consequence ; 
though it oftener happens that the turbulence produced in 
clear water is partially communicated over a vast surface, caus- 
ing the fields and mountains to grind against each other under 
the resistless power of the waves. On the present occasion, 
however, the schooners were still in open water, where the 
wind had a long and unobstructed rake, and a sea had got up 
that caused both of the little craft to bury nearly to their gun- 
wales. What rendered their situation still more unpleasant 
was the fact that all the water which came aboard of them now 
soon froze. To this, however, the men were accustomed, it fre- 
quently happening that the moisture deposited on the rigging 
and spars by the fogs froze during the nights of the autumn. 
Indeed, it has been thought by some speculators on the subject, 


THE SEA LIONS. 


305 


that the bergs themselves are formed in part by a similar pro- 
cess, though snows undoubtedly are the principal element in 
their composition. This it is which gives the berg its stratified 
appearance, no geological formation being more apparent or 
regular in this particular than most of those fioating mountains. 

About ten, the moon was well above the horizon ; the fog 
had been precipitated in dew upon the ice, where it congealed, 
and helped to arrest the progress of dissolution ; while the 
ocean became luminous for the hour, and objects comparatively 
distinct. Then it was that the seamen first got a clear insight 
into the awkwardness of their situation. The bold are apt to 
be reckless in the dark ; but when danger is visible, their move- 
ments become more wary and better calculated than those of 
the timid. When Daggett got this first good look at the enor- 
mous masses of the field-ice, that, stirred by the unquiet ocean, 
were grinding each other, and raising an unceasing rushing 
sound like that the surf produces on a beach, though far 
louder, and with a hardness in it that denoted the collision of 
substances harder than water, he almost instinctively ordered 
every sheet to be flattened down, and the schooner’s head 
brought as near the wind as her construction permitted. Ros- 
well observed the change in his consort’s line of sailing, slight 
as it was, and imitated the manoeuvre. The sea was too heavy 
to dream of tacking, and there was not room to ware. So 
close, indeed, were some of the cakes, those that might be 
called the stragglers of the grand array, that repeatedly each 
vessel brushed along so near them as actually to receive slight 
shocks from collisions with projecting portions. It was obvious 
! that the vessels were setting down upon the ice, and that Dag- 
gett did not haul his wind a moment too soon. 

The half-hour that succeeded was one of engrossing interest. 
It settled the point whether the schooners could or could not 
eat their way into the wind sufficiently to weather the danger. 

; Fragment after fragment was passed ; blow after blow was re- 
ceived ; until suddenly the field-ice appeared directly in front. 


306 


THE SEA LIONS. 


It was in vast quantities, extending to the southward far as the 
eye could reach. There remained no alternative but to attempt 
to ware. Without waiting longer than to assure himself of 
the facts, Daggett ordered his helm put up and the main gaff 
lowered. At that moment both the schooners were under their 
jibs and foresails, each without its bonnet, and double-reefed 
mainsails. This was not canvas very favorable for waring, 
there being too much after-sail ; but the sheets were attended 
to, and both vessels were soon driving dead to leeward, amid 
the foam of a large wave ; the next instant, ice was heard grind- 
ing along their sides. 

It was not possible to haul up on the other tack ere the 
schooners would be surrounded by the floes ; and seeing a com- 
paratively open passage a short distance ahead, Daggett stood 
in boldly, followed closely by Roswell. In ten minutes they 
were fully a mile within the field, rendering all attempts to 
get out of it to windward so hopeless as to be almost desperate. 
The manoeuvre of Daggett was begun under circumstances that 
scarcely admitted of any alternative, though it might be ques- 
tioned if it were not the best expedient that offered. Now that 
the schooners were so far within the field-ice, the water was 
much less broken, though the undulations of the restless ocean 
were still considerable, and the grinding of ice occasioned by 
them was really terrific. So loud was the noise produced by 
these constant and violent collisions, indeed, that the roaring of 
the wind was barely audible, and that only at intervals. The 
sound was rushing, like that of an incessant avalanche, at- 
tended by cracking noises that resembled the rending of a 
glacier. 

The schooners now took in their foresails, for the double pur- 
pose of diminishing their velocity and of being in a better con- 
dition to change their course, in order to avoid dangers ahead. 
These changes of course were necessarily frequent ; but, by dint 
of boldness, perseverance, and skill, Daggett worked his way 
into the comparatively open passage already mentioned. It 


THE SEA LIONS. 


307 


was a sort of river amid the floes, caused doubtless by some of 
the inexplicable currents, and was fully a quarter of a mile in 
width, straight as an air-line, and of considerable length ; 
though how long could not be seen by moonlight. It led, 
moreover, directly down towards the bergs, then distant less 
than a mile. Without stopping to ascertain more, Daggett 
stood on, Roswell keeping close on his quarter. In ten min- 
utes they drew quite near to that wild and magnificent ruined 
city of alabaster that was floating about in the antarctic sea ! 

Notwithstanding the imminent peril that now most seriously 
menaced the two schooners, it was not possible to approach 
that scene of natural grandeur without feelings of awe that 
were allied quite as much to admiration as to dread. Appre- 
hensions certainly weighed on every heart ; but curiosity, won- 
der, even delight, were all mingled in the breasts of the crews. 
As the vessels came driving down into the midst of the bergs, 
every thing contributed to render the movements imposing in 
all senses, appalling in one. There lay the vast maze of float- 
ing mountains, generally of a spectral white at that hour, 
though many of the masses emitted hues more pleasing, while 
some were black as night. The passages between the bergs, or 
what might be termed the streets and lanes of this mysterious- 
looking, fantastical, yet sublime city of the ocean, were numer- 
ous, and of every variety. Some were broad, straight avenues, 
a league in length ; others winding and narrow ; while a good 
many were little more than fissures, that might be fancied 
lanes. 

The schooners had not run a league within the bergs before 
they felt much less of the power of the gale ; and the heaving 
and setting of the seas were sensibly diminished. What was, 
perhaps, not to be expected, the field-ice had disappeared en- 
tirely within the passages of the bergs, and the only difficulty 
in navigating was to keep in such channels as had outlets, and 
which did not appear to be closing. The rate of sailing of the 
two schooners was now greatly lessened, the mountains usually 


308 


THE SEA LIONS. 


intercepting the wind, though it was occasionally heard howl- 
ing and scuffling in the ravines, as if in a hurry to escape, and 
pass on to the more open seas. The grinding of the ice, too, 
came down in the currents of air, furnishing fearful evidence of 
dangers that were not yet distant. As the water was now suf- 
ficiently smooth, and the wind, except at the mouths of partic- 
ular ravines, was light, there was nothing to prevent the 
schooners from approaching each other. This was done, and 
the two masters held a discourse together on the subject of 
their present situation. 

“ You’re a bold fellow, Daggett, and one I should not like 
to follow in a voyage round the world,” commenced Roswell. 
“Here we are, in the midst of some hundreds of icebergs; a 
glorious sight to behold, I must confess — but are we ever to 
get out again ?” 

“ It is much better to be here, Gar’ner,” returned the other, 
“ than to be among the floes. I’m always afraid of my starn 
and my rudder when among the field-ice ; wfflereas there is no 
danger hereabouts that cannot be seen before a vessel is on it. 
Give me my eyes, and I feel that I have a chance.” 

“There is some truth in that; but I wish these channels 
were a good deal wider than they are. A man may feel a berg 
as well as see it. Were two of these fellows to take it into 
their heads to close upon us, our little craft would be crushed 
like nuts in the crackers ?” 

“We must keep a good look-out for that. Here seems to 
be a long bit of open passage ahead of us, and it leads as near 
north as we can wish to run. If we can only get to the other 
end of it, I shall feel as if half our passage back to Ameriky 
was made.” 

The citizen of the United States calls his country “ America,” 
j>ar excellence^ never using the addition of “ North,” as is prac- 
tised by most European people. Daggett meant “home,” 
therefore, by his “ Ameriky,” in which he saw no other than 
the east end of Long Island, Gardiner’s Island, and Martha’s 


THE SEA LIONS. 


309 


Vineyard. Roswell understood him, of course ; so no breath 
was lost. 

“ In my judgment,” returned Gardiner, “ we shall not get 
clear of this ice for a thousand miles. Not that I expect to be 
in a wilderness of it, as we are to-night ; but after such a sum- 
mer, you may rely on it, Daggett, that the ice will get as far 
north as 45°, if not a few degrees further.” 

“ It is possible : I have seen it in 42° myself; and in 40° to 
the nor’ard of the equator. If it get as far as 50°, however, in 
this part of the world, it will do pretty well. That will be play 
to what we have just here In the name of Divine Provi- 

dence, what is that, Gar’ner ?” 

Not a voice was heard in either vessel ; scarcely a breath was 
drawn. A heavy groaning sound had been instantly succeeded 
by such a plunge into the water as might be imagined to suc- 
ceed the fall of a fragment from another planet. Then all the 
bergs near by began to rock as if agitated by an earthquake. This 
part of the picture was both grand and frightful. Many of 
those masses rose above the sea more than two hundred feet per- 
pendicularly, and showed wall-like surfaces of half a league in 
length. At the point where the schooners happened to be just 
at that moment, the ice-islands were not so large, but quite as 
high, and consequently were more easily agitated. While the 
whole panorama was bowing and rocking, pinnacles, arches, 
walls, and all, seeming about to totter from their bases, there 
came a wave sweeping down the passage that lifted them high 
in the air, some fifty feet at least, and bore them along like 
pieces of cork, fully a hundred yards. Other waves suc- 
ceeded, though of less height and force ; when, gradually, 
the water regained its former and more natural movement, 
and subsided. 

“ This has been an earthquake !” exclaimed Daggett. “ That 
volcano has been pent up, and the gas is stirring up the rocks 
beneath the sea.” 

“No, sir,” answered Stimson, from the forecastle of his own 


310 


THE SEA LIONS. 


schooner, “ it’s not that, Captain Daggett. One of them bergs 
has turned over, like a whale wallowing, and it has set all the 
others a-rocking.” 

This was the true explanation ; one that did not occur to the 
less experienced sealers. It is a danger, however, of no rare 
occurrence in the ice, and one that ever needs to be looked to. 
The bergs, when they first break loose from their native moor- 
ings, which is done by the agency of frosts, as well as by the 
action of the seasons in the warm months, are usually tabular, 
and of regular outlines ; but this shape is soon lost by the ac- 
tion of the waves on ice of very different degrees of consistency ; 
some being composed of frozen snow ; some of the moisture 
precipitated from the atmosphere in the shape of fogs ; and 
some of pure frozen water. The first melts soonest ; and a 
berg that drifts for any length of time with one particular face 
exposed to the sun’s rays, soon loses its equilibrium, and is 
canted with an inclination to the horizon. Finally, the centre 
of gravity gets outside of the base, when the still monstrous 
mass rolls over in the ocean, coming literally bottom upwards. 
There are all degrees and varieties of these ice-slips, if one may 
so term them, and they bring in their train the many different 
commotions that such accidents would naturally produce. That 
which had just alarmed and astonished our navigators was of 
the following character. A mass of ice that was about a quar- 
ter of a mile in length, and of fully half that breadth, which 
floated quite two hundred feet above the surface of the w^ater, 
and twice that thickness beneath it, was the cause of the dis- 
turbance. It had preserved its outlines unusually well, and 
stood upright to the last moment ; though, owing to numerous 
strata of snow-ice, its base had melted much more on one of its 
sides than on the other. AVhen the precise moment arrived 
that would have carried a perpendicular line from the centre of 
gravity without this base, the monster turned leisurely in its 
lair, producing some such effect as would have been wrought 
by the falling of a portion of a Swiss mountain into a lake ; a 


THE SEA LIONS. 


311 


sort of accident of which there have been many and remark- 
able instances. 

Stimson’s explanation, while it raised the curtain from all 
that was mysterious, did not serve very much to quiet apprehen- 
sions. If one berg had performed such an evolution, it was 
reasonable to suppose that others might do the same thing ; 
and the commotion made by this, which was at a distance, 
gave some insight into what might be expected from a similar 
change in another nearer by. Both Daggett and Gardiner 
were of opinion that the fall of a berg of equal size within a 
cable’s length of the schooners might seriously endanger the 
vessels by dashing them against some wall of ice, if in no other 
manner. It was too late, however, to retreat, and the vessels 
stood on gallantly. 

The passage between the bergs now became quite straight, 
reasonably broad, and was so situated as regarded the gale, as 
to receive a full current of its force. It was computed that the 
schooners ran quite three marine leagues in the hour that suc- 
ceeded the overturning of the berg. There were moments when 
the wind blew furiously ; and, taking all the accessories of that 
remarkable view .into the account, the scene resembled one that 
the imagination might present to the mind in its highest flights, 
but which few could ever hope to see with their proper eyes. 
The moonlight, the crowd of icebergs of all shapes and dimen- 
sions, seeming to flit past by the rapid movements of the ves- 
sels ; the variety of hues, from spectral white to tints of orange 
and emerald, pale at that hour yet distinct ; streets and lanes 
that were scarce opened ere they were passed ; together with 
all the fantastic images that such objects conjured to the 
thoughts ; contributed to make that hour much the most won- 
derful that Roswell Gardiner had ever passed. To add to the 
excitement, a couple of whales came blowing up the passage, 
coming within a hundred yards of the schooners. They were 
fin-backs, which are rarely if ever taken, and were sutfered to 
pass unharmed. To capture a whale, however, amid so many 


312 


THE SEA LIONS. 


bergs, would be next to impossible, unless the animal were 
killed by the blow of the harpoon, without requiring the keener 
thrust of the lance. 

At the end of the hour mentioned, the Sea Lion of the Vine- 
yard rapidly changed her course, hauling up by a sudden 
movement to the westward. The passage before her was 
closed, and there remained but one visible outlet, towards which 
the schooner slowly made her way, having got rather too much 
to leeward of it, in consequence of not earlier seeing the neces- 
sity for the change of course in that dim and deceptive light. 
Roswell, being to windward, had less difficulty, but, notwith- 
standing, he kept his station on his consort’s quarter, declining 
to lead. Tlie passage into which Daggett barely succeeded in 
carrying his schooner was fearfully narrow, and appeared to bo 
fast closing ; though it was much wider further ahead, could 
the schooners but get through the first dangerous strait. Ros- 
well remonstrated ere the leading vessel entered, and pointed 
out to I.)aggett the fact that the bergs were evidently closing, 
each instant increasing their movement, most probably through 
the force of attraction. It is known that ships are thus brought 
in contact in calms, and it is thought a similar influence is ex- 
ercised on the icebergs. At all events, the wind, the current, 
or attraction, was fast closing the passage through which the 
schooners had now to go. 

Scarcely was Daggett within the channel, when an enormous 
mass fell from the summit of one of the bergs, literally closing 
the passage in his wake, while it compelled Gardiner to put his 
helm down, and to tack ship, standing oft’ from the tottering 
berg. The scene that followed was frightful ! The cries on 
board the leading craft denoted her peril, but it was not possi- 
ble for Roswell to penetrate to her with his vessel. All ho 
could do was to heave-to his own schooner, lower a boat, and 
pull back towards the point of danger. This he did at once, 
manfully, but with an anxious mind and throbbing heart. He 
actually urged his boat into the chasm beneath an arch in the 


THE SEA LIONS. 


313 


fallen fragment, and made his way to the very side of Daggett’s 
vessel. The last was nipped again, and that badly, but was 
not absolutely lost. The falling fragment from the berg alone 
prevented her, and all in her, from being ground into powder. 
This block, of enormous size, kept the two bergs asunder ; and 
now that they could not absolutely come together, they began 
slowly to turn in the current, gradually opening and separating, 
at the veiy point where they had so lately seemed attracted to 
a closer union. In an hour the way was clear, and the boats 
towed the schooner stern foremost into the broader passage. 

14 


314 


THE SEA HONS. 


CHAPTER XX. 

“A voice upon the prairies, 

A cry of woman’s woe, 

That mingleth with the autumn blast 
All fitfully and low.” 

Mrs. Sigourney. 

The accident to the Sea Lion of the Vineyard occurred very 
near the close of the month of March, which, in the southern 
hemisphere, corresponds to our month of September. This was 
somewhat late for a vessel to remain in so high a latitude, * 
though it was not absolutely dangerous to be found there sev- 
eral weeks longer. We have given a glance at Mary Pratt and 
her uncle, about this time ; but it has now become expedient 
to carry the reader forward for a considerable period, and take 
another look at our heroine and her miserly uncle, some seven 
months later. In that interval a great change had come over 
the deacon and his niece ; and hope had nearly deserted all 
those who had friends on board the Sea Lion of Oyster Pond, 
as the following explanation will show was reasonable, and to 
be expected. 

When Captain Gardiner sailed, it was understood that his 
absence would not extend beyond a single season. All who 
had friends and connections on board his schooner, had been 
assured of this ; and great was the anxiety, and deep the disap- 
pointment, when the first of our own summer months failed to 
bring back the adventurers. As week succeeded week, and the 
vessel did not return, the concern increased, until hope began 
to be lost in apprehension. Deacon Pratt groaned in spirit 
over his loss, finding little consolation in the gains secured by 
means of the oil sent home, as is apt to be the case with the 


THE SEA LIONS. 


315 


avaricious, when their hearts are once set on gain. As for 
Mary, the load on her heart increased in weight, as it might be, 
day by day, until those smiles, which had caused her sweet 
countenance to he radiant with innocent joy, entirely disap- 
peared, and she was seen to smile no more. Still, complaints 
never passed her lips. She prayed much, and found all her 
relief in such pursuits as comported with her feelings, but she 
seldom spoke of her grief; never, except at weak moments, 
when her querulous kinsman introduced the subject, in his fre- 
quent lamentations over his losses. 

The month of November is apt to be stormy on the Atlantic 
coasts of the republic. It is true that the heaviest gales do not 
then occur, hut the weather is generally stern and wintry, and 
the winds are apt to be high and boisterous. At a place like 
Oyster Pond, the gales from the ocean are felt with almost as 
much power as on board a vessel at sea ; and Mary became 
keenly sensible of the change from the bland breezes of summer 
to the sterner blasts of autumn. As for the deacon, his health 
was actually giving way before anxiety, until the result was 
getting to be a matter of doubt. Premature old age appeared 
to have settled on him, and his niece had privately consulted 
Dr. Sage on his case. The excellent girl was grieved to find 
that the mind of her uncle grew more worldly, his desires for 
wealth more grasping, as he was losing his hold on life, and was 
approaching nearer to that hour when time is succeeded by 
eternity. All this while, however. Deacon Pratt “ kept about,” 
as he expressed it himself, and struggled to look after his inter- 
ests, as had been his practice through life. He collected his 
debts, foreclosed his mortgages when necessary, drove tight bar- 
gains for his wood and other saleable articles, and neglected 
nothing that he thought would tend to increase his gains. 
Still, his heart was with his schooner ; for he had expected 
much from that adventure, and the disappointment was in pro- 
portion to the former hopes. 

One day, near the close of November, the deacon and his 


316 


THE SEA LIONS. 


niece were alone together in the “ keeping-room,” — as it was, 
if it be not still, the custom among persons of New England 
origin to call the ordinary sitting-apartment, — he bolstered up 
in an easy-cbair, on account of increasing infirmities, and she 
plying the needle in her customary way. The chairs of both 
were so placed that it was easy for either to look out upon that 
bay, now of a wintry aspect, where Roswell had at last an- 
chored, previously to sailing. 

“ What a pleasant sight it would be, uncle,” Mary, almost 
unconsciously to herself, remarked, as, with tearful eyes, sbe sat 
gazing intently on the water, “ could we only awake and find 
the Sea Lion at anchor, under the point of Gardiner’s Island ! 
I often fancy that such may be — nay, must be the case yet ; 
but it never comes to pass! I would not tell you yesterday, 
for you did not seem to be as well as common, but I have got 
an answer, by Baiting Joe, to my letter sent across to the 
Vineyard.” 

The deacon started, and half turned his body towards his 
niece, on whose face his own sunken eyes were now fastened 
with almost ferocious interest. It was the love of Mammon, 
stirring within him the lingering remains of covetousness. He 
thought of his property, while Mary thought of those whose 
lives had been endangered, if not lost, by the unhappy adven- 
ture. The latter understood the look, however, so far as to 
answer its inquiry in her usual gentle, feminine voice. 

“ I am sorry to say, sir, that no news has been heard from 
Captain Daggett or any of his people,” was the sad reply to 
this silent interrogatory. “No one on the island has heard a 
word from the Vineyard vessel since the day before she sailed 
from Rio. There is the same uneasiness felt among Captain 
Daggett’s friends, as we feel for poor Roswell. They think, 
however, that the two vessels have kept together, and believe 
that the same fate has befallen both.” 

“ Heaven forbid !” exclaimed the deacon, as sharply as wast- 
ing lungs would allow — “ heaven forbid ! If Gar’ner has let 


THE SEA LIONS. 


317 


that Daggett keep in his company an hour longer than was 
necessaiy, he has deserved to meet with shipwreck, though the 
loss always falls heaviest on the owners.” 

“Surely, uncle, it is more cheering to think that the two 
schooners are together in those dangerous seas, than to ima- 
gine one, alone, left to meet the risks, without a compan- 
ion !” 

“ You talk idly, gal — as women always talk. If you know’d 
all, you wouldn’t think of such a thing.” 

“ So you have said often, uncle, and I fear there is some 
mystery preying all this time on your spirits. Why not relieve 
your mind, by telling your troubles to me ? I am your child 
' in affection, if not by birth.” 

“You’re a good gal, Mary,” answered the deacon, a good 
deal softened by the plaintive tones of one of the gentlest 
voices that ever fell on human ear, “ an excellent creatur’ at 
the bottom — but of course you know nothing of the sealing 
business, and next to nothing about taking care of prop- 
erty.” 

“I hope you do not think me wasteful, sir? That is a 
' character I should not like to possess.” 

“ No, not wasteful ; on the contrary, curful (so the deacon 
pronounced the word) and considerate enough, as to keeping^ but 
awfully indifferent as to getting. Had I been as indifferent as 
you are yourself* your futur’ days would not be so comfortable 
and happy as they are now likely to be, a’ter my departure — if 
depart I must.'''' 

“My future life happy and comfortable!” thought Mary; 
then she struggled to be satisfied with her lot, and contented 
with the decrees of Providence. “ It is but a few hours that 
we live in this state of trials, compared to the endless existence 
that is to succeed it.” 

“I wish I knew all about this voyage of Roswell’s,” she 
added, aloud; for she was perfectly certain that there was 
something to be told that, as yet, the deacon had concealed 


318 


THK SEA LIONS. 


from her. “ It might relieve your mind, and lighten your 
spirits of a burden, to make me a confidant.” 

The deacon mused in silence for more than five minutes. 
Seldom had his thoughts gone over so wide a reach of interests 
and events in so short a space of time ; but the conclusion was 
clear and decided. 

“You ought to know all, Mary, and you shall know all,” he 
answered, in the manner of a man who had made up his mind 
beyond appeal. “ Gar’ner has gone a’ ter seal to some islands 
that the Daggett who died here, about a year and a half ago, 
told me of ; islands of which nobody know’d any thing, accord- 
ing to his account, but himself. His shipmates, that saw the 
place when he saw it, were all dead, afore he let me into the 
secret.” 

“ I have long suspected something of the sort, sir, and have 
also supposed that the people on Martha’s Vineyard had got 
some news of this place, by the manner in which Captain 
Daggett has acted.” 

“ Isn’t it wonderful, gal ? Islands, they tell me, where a 
schooner can fill up with ile and skins, in the shortest season in 
which the sun ever shone upon an antarctic summer ! Won- 
derful ! wonderful !” 

“Very extraordinary, perhaps; but we should remember, 
uncle, at how much risk the young men of the country go on 
these distant voyages, and how dearly their profits are some- 
times bought.” 

“ Bought ! If the schooner would only come back, I should 
think nothing of all that. It’s the cost of the vessel and outfit, 
Mary, that weighs so much on my spirits. Well, Gar’ner’s 
first business is with them islands, which are at an awful dis- 
tance for one to trust his property ; but, ‘ nothing ventured, 
nothing got,’ they say. By my calculations, the schooner has 
had to go a good five hundred miles among the ice to get to 
the spot ; not such ice as a body falls in with, in going and 
coming between England and Ameriky, as we read of in the 


THE SEA LIONS. 


319 


papers, but ice that covers the sea as we sometimes see it piled 
up in Gar’ners Bay, only a hundred times higher, and deeper, 
and broader, and colder ! It’s desperate cold ice, the sealers all 
tell me, that of the antarctic seas. Some on ’em think it’s 
colder down south than it is the other way, up towards Green- 
land and Iceland itself. It’s extr’or’nary, Mary, that the weather 
should grow cold as a body journeys south ; but so it is, by all 
accounts. I never could understand it, and it isn’t so in 
Ameriky, I’m sartin. I suppose it must come of their turning 
the months round, and having their winter in the midst of the 
dog-days. I never could understand it, though Gar’ner has 
tried, more than once, to reason me into it. I believe, but I 
don’t understand.” 

“ It is all told in my geography here,” answered Mary, me- 
chanically taking down the book, for her thoughts were far 
away in those icy seas that her uncle had been so graphically 
describing. “ I dare say we can find it all explained in the ele- 
mentary parts of this book. ’ 

“ They do make their geographies useful, nowadays,” said 
the deacon, with rather more animation than he had shown 
before, that morning. “ They’ve got ’em to be, now, almost as 
useful as almanacs. Read what it says about the seasons, 
child.” 

“ It says, sir, that the changes in the seasons are owing to 
‘ the inclination of the earth’s axis to the plane of its orbit.’ I 
do not exactly understand what that means, uncle.” 

« Xo, — it’s not as clear as it might be. The declination — ” 

“ /wclination, sir, is what is printed here.” 

“ Ay, inclination. I do not see why any one should have 
much inclination for winter, but so it must be, I suppose. 
The ‘ ’arth’s orbit has an inclination towards changes,’ you say.” 

“The changes in the seasons, sir, are owing to ‘the inclina- 
tion of the earth’s axis to the plane of its orbit.’ It does not 
say that the orbit has an inclination in any particular way.” 

Thus was it with Mary Pratt, and thus was it with her 


320 


THE SEA LIONS. 


uncle, the deacon. One of the plainest problems in natural 
philosophy was Hebrew to both, simply because the capacity 
that Providence had so freely bestowed on each had never been 
turned to the consideration of such useful studies. But, while 
the mind of Mary Pratt was thus obscured on this simple, and, 
to such as choose to give it an hour of reflection, perfectly in- 
telligible proposition, it was radiant as the day on another 
mystery, and one that has confounded thousands of the learned, 
as well as of the unlearned. To her intellect nothing was 
clearer, no moral truth more vivid, no physical fact more cer- 
tain, than the incarnation of the Son of God. She had the 
“ evidence of things not seen,” in the fulness of Divine grace ; 
and was profound on this, the greatest concern of human life, 
while unable even to comprehend how the “inclination of the 
earth’s axis to the plane of its orbit” could be the cause of the 
change of the seasons. And was it thus with her uncle ? — he 
who was a pillar of the “ meeting,” whose name was often in 
men’s mouths as a “ shining light,” and who had got to be 
identified with religion in his own neighborhood, to a degree 
that caused most persons to think of Deacon Pratt, when they 
should be thinking of the Saviour? We are afraid he knew as 
little of one of these propositions as of the other. 

“ It’s very extr’or’nary,” resumed the deacon, after rumi- 
nating on the matter for a few moments, “ but I suppose it is so. 
Wasn’t it for this ‘inclination’ to cold weather, our vessels 
might go and seal under as pleasant skies as we have here in 
June. But, Mary, I suppose that wasn’t to be, or it would be.” 

“ There would have been no seals, most likely, uncle, if there 
was no ice. They tell me that such creatures love the cold, and 
the ice, and the frozen oceans. Too much warm weather would 
not suit them.” 

“But, Mary, it might suit other folks ! Gar’ner’s whole ar’nd 
isn’t among the ice, or a’ter them seals.” 

“ I do not know that I understand you, sir. Surely Roswell 
has gone on a sealing voyage.” 


THE SEA LIONS. 


321 


“ Sartain ; there’s no mistake about that. But there may be 
many stopping-places in so long a road.” 

“ Do you mean, sir, that he is to use any of these stopping- 
places, as you call them ?” asked Mary, eagei ly, half-breathless 
with her anxiety to hear all. “ You said something about the 
West Indies once.” 

“ Harkee, Mary — ^just look out into the entry and see if the 
kitchen door is shut. And now come nearer to me, child, so 
that there may be no need of bawling what I’ve got to say all 
over Oyster Pond. There, sit down, my dear, and don’t look 
so eager, as if you wanted to eat me, or my mind may misgive 
me, and then I couldn’t tell you, a’ter all. Perhaps it would be 
best, if I was to keep my own secret.” 

“ Not if it has any thing to do with Roswell, dear uncle ; not 
if it has any thing to do with him ! You have often advised 
me to marry him, and I ought to know all about the man you 
wish me to marry.” 

“Yes, Gar’ner will make a right good husband for any young 
woman, and I do advise you to have him. You are my broth- 
er’s da’ghter, Mary, and I give you this advice, which I should 
give you all the same, had you been my own child, instead 
of his’n.” 

“ Yes, sir, I know that. — But what about Roswell, and his 
having to stop, on his way home ?” 

“ Why, you must know, Mary, that this v’y’ge came alto- 
gether out of that seaman who died among us, last year. I 
was kind to him, as you may remember, and helped him to 
many little odd comforts,” — odd enough were they, of a verity, 
— “ and he was grateful. Of all virtues, give me gratitude, say 
I ! It is the noblest, as it is the most oncommon of all our 
good qualities. How little have I met with, in my day ! Of 
all the presents I have made, and gifts bestowed, and good acts 
done, not one in ten has ever met with any gratitude.” 

Mary sighed ; for well did slie know how little he had given, 
of his abundance, to relieve the wants of his fellow-creatures. 

14 * 


322 


THE SEA LIONS. 


She sighed, too, with a sort of mild impatience that the infor- 
mation she sought with so much eagerness, was so long and 
needlessly delayed. But the deacon had made up his mind to 
tell her all. 

“ Yes, Gar’ner has got something to do, beside sealing,” he 
resumed of himself, when his regret at the prevalence of in- 
gratitude among men had exhausted itself. “ Suthiii’ ” — for 
this was the way he pronounced that word — “ that is of more 
importance than the schooner’s hold full of ile. He is ile, I 
know, child ; but gold is gold. What do you think of that 

“ Is Roswell, then, to stop at Rio again, in order to sell his 
oil, and send the receipts home in gold ?” 

“ Better than that — much better than that, if he gets back 
at all.” Mary felt a chill at her heart. “ Yes, that is the p’int 
— if he gets back at all. If Gar’ner ever does come home, 
child, I shall expect to see him return with a condderable sized 
keg — almost a barrel, by all accounts — filled with gold !” 

The deacon stared about him as he made this announce- 
ment, like a man who was afraid that he was telling too much. 
Nevertheless, it was to his own niece, his brother’s daughter, 
that he had confided thus much of his great secret — and re- 
flection reassured him. 

“ How is Roswell to get all this gold, uncle, unless he sells 
his cargo ?” Mary asked, with obvious solicitude. 

“ That’s another p’int. I’ll tell you all about it, gal, and 
you’ll see the importance of keeping the secret. This Daggett 
— not the one who is out in another schooner, another Sea 
Lion, as it might be, but his uncle, who died down here at the 
Widow White’s — well, that Daggett told more than the lati- 
tude and longitude of the sealing islands — he told me of a 
buried treasure !” 

“ Buried treasure ! — Buried by whom, and consisting of 
what, uncle ?” 

“ Buried by seamen who make free with the goods of others 
on the high seas, ag’in the time when they might come back 


THE SEA LIONS. 


323 


and dig it up, and carry it away to be used. Consisting of 
what, indeed ! Consisting principally, accordin’ to Daggett’s 
account, of heavy doubloons ; though there was a lot of old 
English guineas among ’em. Yes, I remember that he spoke 
of them guineas — three thousand and odd, and nearly as many 
doubloons !” 

“ Was Daggett, then, a pirate, sir ? — for they who make free 
with the goods of others on the high seas are neither more nor 
less than pirates.” 

“ No ; not he, himself. He got this secret from one who 
was a pirate, however, and who was a prisoner in a jail where 
he was himself confined for smuggling. Yes ; that man told 
him all about the buried treasure, in return for some acts of 
kindness shown him by Daggett. It’s well to be kind some- 
times, Mary.” 

“ It is well to be kind always, sir ; even when it is misunder- 
stood, and the kindness is abused. What was the redemption 
but kindness and love, and god-like compassion on those who 
neither understood it nor felt it ? But money collected and 
buried by pirates can never become yours, uncle ; nor can it 
ever become the property of Roswell Gardiner.” 

“ Whose is it, then, gal ?” demanded the deacon, sharply. 
“ Gar’ner had some such silly notion in his head when I first 
told him of this treasure ; but I soon brought him to hear 
reason.” 

“ I think Roswell must always have seen that a treasure ob- 
tained by robbery can never justly belong to any but its right- 
ful owner.” 

“ And who is this rightful owner, pray ? or owners, I might 
say ; for the gold was picked up, here and there, out of all 
question, from many hands. Now, supposing Gar’ner gets this 
treasure, as I still hope he may, though he is an awful time 
about it — but suppose he gets it, how is he to find the rightful 
owners ? There it is, a bag of doubloons, say — all looking just 
alike, with the head of a king, a Don Somebody, and the date, 


324 


THE SEA LIONS. 


and the Latin and Greek — now who can say that ‘this is my 
doubloon ; I lost it at such a time — it was taken from me by 
such a pirate, in such sea ; and I was whipped till I told the 
thieves where I had hid the gold V No, no, Mary ; depend on’t, 
no action of ’plevy would lie ag’in a single one of all them 
pieces. They are lost, one and all, to their former owners, and 
will belong to the man that succeeds in getting hold on ’em 
ag’in ; who will become a rightful owner in his turn. All prop- 
erty comes from law ; and if the law won’t ’plevy money got in 
this way, nobody can maintain a claim to it.” 

“ I should be very, very soriy, my dear uncle, to have Ros- 
well enrich himself in this way.” 

“You talk like a silly young woman, and one that doesn’t 
know her own rights. We had no hand in robbing the folks 
of their gold. They lost it years ago, and may be dead — prob- 
ably are, or they would make some stir about it — or have for- 
gotten it, and couldn’t for their lives tell a single one of the 
coins they once had in their possession ; and don’t know whether 
what they lost was thrown into the sea, or buried in the sand 
on a key. Mary child, you must never mention any thing I 
tell you on this subject !” 

“You need fear nothing, sir, from me. But I do most earn- 
estly hope Roswell will have nothing to do with any such ill- 
gotten wealth. He is too noble-hearted and generous to get 
rich in this way.” 

“Well, well, say no more about it, child ; you’re romantic 
and notional. Just pour out my drops; for all this talking 
makes me breathe thick. I’m not what I was, Mary, and can- 
not last long ; but was it the last breath I drew, I would stand 
to it, that treasure desarted and found in this way belongs to 
the last holder. I go by the law, however ; let Gar’ner only 
find it — well, well. I’ll say no more about it now ; for it dis- 
tresses you, and that I don’t like to see. Go and hunt up the 
Spectator, child, and look for the whaling news — perhaps there 
may be suthin’ about the sealers too.” 


THE SEA LIONS. 


325 


Mary did not require to be told twice to do as her uncle re- 
quested. The paper was soon found, and the column that con- 
tained the marine intelligence consulted. The niece read a 
long account of whalers spoken, with so many hundred or so 
many thousand barrels of oil on board, but could discover no 
allusion to any sealer. At length she turned her eyes into the 
body of the journal, which being semi-weekly, or tri-weekly, 
was crowded with matter, and started at seeing a paragraph to 
the following effect : 

“ By the arrival of the Twin Sisters at Stonington, we learn 
that the ice has been found farther north in the southern hem- 
I isphere this season, than it has been known to be for many 
years. The sealers have had a great deal of difficulty in 
making their way through it ; and even vessels bound round 
the Cape of Good Hope have been much embarrassed by its 
i presence.” 

“That’s it! — Yes, Mary, that’s just it!” exclaimed the dea- 
con. “ It’s that awful ice. If ’twasn’t for the ice, sealin’ would 
be as pleasant a calling as preachin’ the gospel ! It is possible 
that this ice has turned Gar’ner back, when he has been on his 
way home, and that he has been waiting for a better time to 
come north. There’s one good p’int in this news — they tell 
me that when the ice is seen drifting about in low latitudes, it’s 
a sign there’s less of it in the higher.” 

“ The Cape of Good Hope is certainly, in one sense, in a low 
latitude, uncle ; if I remember right, it is not as far south as 
we are north ; and, as you say, it is a good sign if the ice has 
come anywhere near it.” 

“I don’t say it has, child ; I don’t say it has. But it may 
have come to the northward of Cape Horn, and that will be a 
great matter ; for all the ice that is drifting about there comes 
from the polar seas, and is so much taken out of Gar’ner’s 
track.” 

“ Still he must come through it to get home,” returned Mary, 
in her sweet, melancholy tones. “Ah! why cannot men be 


326 


THE SEA LIONS. 


content with the blessings that Providence places within our 
immediate reach, that they must make distant voyages to ac- 
cumulate others !” 

“You like your tea, I fancy, Mary Pratt — and the sugar in 
it, and your silks and ribbons that Pve seen you wear ; how are 
you to get such matters if there’s to be no going on v’y’ges ? 
Tea and sugar, and silks and satins don’t grow along with the 
clams on ‘Yster Pond’” — for so the deacon uniformly pro- 
nounced the word “ oyster.” 

Mary acknowledged the truth of what was said, but changed 
the subject. The journal contained no more that related to 
sealing or sealers, and it was soon laid aside. 

“ It may be that Gar’ner is digging for the buried treasure 
all this time,” the deacon at length resumed. “ That may be 
the reason he is so late. If so, he has nothing to dread from 
ice.” 

“ I understand you, sir, that this money is supposed to be 
buried on a key — in the West Indies, of course.” 

“ Don’t speak so loud, Mary — there’s no need of letting all 
’Yster Pond know where the treasure is. It may be in the 
West Ingees, or it may not; there’s keys all over the ’arth, I 
take it.” 

•• Do you not think, uncle, that Roswell would write, if de- 
tained long among those keys ?” 

“ You w'ouldn’t hear to postofiices in the antarctic ocean, and 
now you want to put them on the sand-keys of the West Ingees! 
Woman’s always a sailin’ ag’in wind and tide.” 

“ I do not think so, sir, in this case, at least. There must 
be many vessels passing among the keys of the West Indies, 
and nothing seems to me to be easier than to send letters by 
them. I am quite sure Roswell would write, if in a part of 
the world where he thought what he wrote would reach us.” 

“ Not he — not he— Gar’ner’s not the man I take him for, if 
he let any one know what he is about in them keys, until he 
had done up all his business there. No, no, Mary. We shall 


THE SEA LIONS. 


327 


never hear from him in that quarter of the world. It may be 
that Gar’ner is a digging about, and has difficulty in finding 
the place ; for Daggett’s account had some weak spots in it.” 

Mary made no reply, though she thought it very little likely 
that Roswell would pass months in the West Indies employed 
ill such a pursuit, without finding the means of letting her 
know where he was, and what he was about. The intercourse 
between these young people was somewhat peculiar, and ever 
had been. In listening to the suit of Roswell, Mary had yielded 
to her heart ; in hesitating about accepting him, she deferred 
to her principles. Usually, a mother — not a managing, match- 
making, interested parent, but a prudent, feminine, well-princi- 
pled mother — is of the last importance to the character and 
well-being of a young woman. It sometimes happens, how- 
ever, that a female who has no parent of her own sex, and who 
is early made to be dependent on herself, if the bias of her 
mind is good, becomes as careful and prudent of herself and 
her conduct, as the advice and solicitude of the most tender 
mother could make her. Such had been the case with Mary 
Pratt. Perfectly conscious of her own deserted situation, high 
principled, and early awake to the defects in her uncle’s char- 
acter, she had laid down severe rules for the government of her 
own conduct ; and from these rules she never departed. Thus 
it was that she peraaitted Roswell to write, though she never 
-"iswered his letters. She permitted him to write, because she 
had promised not to shut her ears to his suit, so long as he 
practised towards her his native and manly candor; conceal- 
ing none of his opinions, and confessing his deficiency on the 
one great point that formed the only obstacle to their union. 

A young woman who has no mother, if she escapes the ills 
attendant on the privation while her character is forming, is 
very apt to acquire qualities that are of great use in her future 
life. She learns to rely on herself, gets accustomed to think 
and act like an accountable being, and is far more likely to be- 
come a reasoning and useful head of a family, than if brought 


328 


THE SEA LIONS. 


up in dependence, and under the control of even the best ma- 
ternal government. In a word, the bias of the mind is sooner 
obtained in such circumstances than when others do so much 
of the thinking ; whether that bias be in a right or in a wrong 
direction. But Mary Pratt had early taken the true direction 
in all that relates to opinion and character, and had never been 
wanting to herself in any of the distinctive and discreet de- 
portment of her sex. 

Our heroine hardly knew whether or not to seek for conso- 
lation in her uncle’s suggestion of Roswell’s being detained 
among the keys, in order to look for the hidden treasure. The 
more she reflected on this subject, the more did it embarrass 
her. Few persons who knew of the existence of such a deposit 
would hesitate about taking possession of it; and, once re- 
claimed, in what way were the best intentions to be satisfied 
with the disposition of the gold ? To find the owners would 
probably be impossible ; and a question in casuistry remained. 
Mary pondered much on this subject, and came to the conclu- 
sion that, were she the person to whom such a treasure were 
committed, she would set aside a certain period for adver- 
tising ; and failing to discover those who had the best claim 
to the money, that she would appropriate every dollar to a 
charity. 

Alas! Little did Mary understand the world. The fact 
that money was thus advertised would probably have brought 
forward a multitude of dishonest pretenders to having been 
robbed by pirates ; and scarce a doubloon would have found its 
way into the pocket of its right owner, even had she yielded all 
to the statements of such claimants. 

All this, however, did not bring back the missing Roswell. 
Another winter was fast approaching, with its chilling storms 
and gales, to awaken apprehensions by keeping the turbulence 
of the ocean, as it might be, constantly before the senses. Not 
a week now passed that the deacon did not get a letter from 
some wife, or parent, or blister, or perhaps from one who hesi- 


THE SEA LIONS. 


329 


tated to avow her relations to the absent mariner ; all inquiring 
after the fate of those who had sailed in the Sea Lion of Oyster 
Pond, under the orders of Captain Roswell Gardiner. 

Even those of the Vineyard sent across questions, and be- 
trayed anxiety and dread, in the very manner of putting their 
interrogatories. Each day did the deacon’s apprehensions in- 
crease, until it was obvious to all around him that this cause, 
united to others that were more purely physical, perhaps, was 
seriously undermining his health, and menacing his existence. 
It is a sad commentary on the greediness for gain, manifested 
by this person, that ere the adventure he had undertaken on 
the strength of Daggett’s reluctant communications was 
brought to any apparent result, he himself was nearly in the 
condition of that diseased seaman, with as little prospect of 
being benefited by his secrets as was the man himself who 
first communicated their existence. Mary saw all this clearly, 
and mourned almost as much over the blindness and world- 
liness of her uncle as she did over the now nearly assured 
fate of him whom she had so profoundly loved in her heart’s 
core. 

Day by day did time roll on, without bringing any tidings 
of either of the Sea Lions. The deacon grew weak fast, until 
he seldom left his room, and still more rarely the house. It 
was now that he was induced to make his will, and this by an 
agency so singular as to deserve being mentioned. The Rev. 
Mr. Whittle broached the subject one day, not with any inter- 
ested motive of course, but simply because the “ meeting-house” 
wanted some material repairs, and there was a debt on the con- 
gregation that it might be a pleasure to one who had long 
stood in the relation to it that Deacon Pratt filled, to pay otf, 
when he no longer had any occasion for the money for himself. 
It is probable the deacon at length felt the justice of this re- 
mark; for he sent to Riverhead for a lawyer, and made a will 
that would have stood even the petulant and envious justice of 
the present day ; a justice that inclines to divide a man’s estate 


330 


THE SEA LIONS. 


infinitesimally, lest some heir become a little richer than his 
neighbors. After all, no small portion of that which struts 
about under the aspects of right, and liberty, and benevolence, 
is in truth derived from some of the most sneaking propensities 
of human nature ! 


11 * 


THE SEA LIONS. 


331 


CHAPTER XXL 

“ I, too, have seen thee on thy surging path, 

When the night-tempest met thee ; thou didst dash 
Thy -white arms high in heaven, as if in wrath. 

Threatening the angry sky; thy waves did lash 
The laboring vessel, and with deadening crash 
Rush madly forth to scourge its groaning sides ; 

Onward thy billows came, to meet and clash 
In a wild warfare, till the lifted tides 
Mingled their yesty tops, where the dark storm-cloud rides.” 

Pekcital. 

The first movement of the mariner, when his vessel has been 
brought in collision with any hard substance, is to sound the 
pumps. This very necessary duty was in the act of perform- 
ance by Daggett, in person, even while the boats of Roswell 
Gardiner were towing his strained and roughly-treated craft 
into the open water. The result of this examination was waited 
for by all on board, including Roswell, with the deepest anxiety. 
The last held the lantern by which the height of the water in 
the well was to be ascertained ; the light of the moon scarce 
sufficing for such a purpose. Daggett stood on the top of the 
pump himself, while Gardiner and Macy were at its side. At 
length the sounding-rod came up, and its lower end was held 
out, in order to ascertain how high up it was wet. 

“ Well, what do you make of it, Gar’ner ?” Daggett de- 
manded, a little impatiently. “ Water there must be; for no 
craft that floats could have stood such a squeeze, and not have 
her sides open.” 

“ There must be near three feet of water in your hold,” an- 
swered Roswell, shaking his head. “ If this goes on. Captain 
Daggett, it will be hard work to keep your schooner afloat !” 


332 


THE SEA LIONS. 


“ Afloat she shall be, while a pump-break can work. Here, 
rig this larboard-pump at once, and get it in motion.” 

“ It is possible that your seams opened under the nip, and 
have closed again, as soon as the schooner got free. In such a 
case, ten minutes at the pump will let us know it.” 

Although there is no duty to which seamen are so averse as 
pumping — none, perhaps, that is actually so exhausting and la- 
borious — it often happens that they have recourse to it with 
eagerness, as the only available means of saving their lives. 
Such was now the case, the harsh but familiar strokes of the 
pump-break being audible amid the more solemn and grand 
sounds of the grating of icebergs, the rushing of floes, and the 
occasional scuffling and howling of the winds. The last ap- 
peared to have changed in their direction, however ; a circum- 
stance that was soon noted, there being much less of biting cold 
in the blasts than had been felt in the earlier hours of the night. 

“ I do believe that the wind has got round here to the north- 
east,” said Roswell, as he paced the quarter-deck with Daggett, 
still holding in his hand the well wiped and dried sounding- 
rod, in readiness for another trial. “ That last puff was right 
in our teeth !” 

“ Not in our teeth, Gar’ner ; no, not in my teeth,” answered 
Daggett, “ whatever it may be in your^n. I shall try to get 
back to the island, where I shall endeavor to beach the 
schooner, and get a look at her leaks. This is the most I can 
hope for. It would never do to think of carrying a craft, after 
such a nip, as far as Rio, pumping every foot of the way !” 

“ That will cause a great delay. Captain Daggett,” said Ros- 
well, doubtingly. “We are now well in among the first great 
body of the ice ; it may be as easy to work our way to the 
northward of it, as to get back into clear water to the south- 
ward.” 

“ I dare say it would ; but back I go. I do not ask you to 
accompany us, Gar’ner; by no means. A’ter the handsome 
manner in which you’ve waited for us so long, I couldn’t think 


THE SEA LIONS. 


333 


of such a thing ! If the wind has r’ally got round to nothe- 
east, and I begin to think it has, I shall get the schooner into 
the cove in four-and-twenty hours ; and there’s as pretty a spot 
to beach her, just under the shelf where we kept our spare 
casks, as a body can wish. In a fortnight we’ll have her leaks 
all stopped, and be jogging along in your wake. You’ll tell 
the folks on Oyster Pond that we’re a-coming, and they’ll be 
sure to send the news across to the Vineyard.” 

This was touching Roswell on a point of honor, and Daggett 
knew it very well. Generous and determined, the young man 
was much more easily influenced by a silent and indirect ap- 
peal to his liberal qualities, than he could possibly have been 
by any other consideration. The idea of deserting a compan- 
ion in distress, in a sea like that in which he was, caused him 
to shrink from what, under other circumstances, he would re- 
gard as an imperative duty. The deacon, and still more, 
Mary, called him north ; but the necessities of the Vineyarders 
would seem to chain him to their fate. 

[ “Let us see what the pump tells us now,” cried Roswell, 

J impatiently. “ Perhaps the report may make matters better 
I than we have *dared to hope for. If the pump gains on the 
leak, all may yet be well.” 

■ “ It’s encouraging and hearty to hear you say this ; but no 

[ one who was in that nip, as a body might say, can ever expect 
; the schooner to make a run of two thousand miles without re- 
pairs. To my eye, Gar’ner, these bergs are separating, leaving 
us a clearer passage back to the open water.” 

“ I do believe you are right ; but it seems a sad loss of time, 

! and a great risk, to go through these mountains again,” returned 
Roswell. “ The wind has shifted ; and the nearest bergs, from 
some cause or other, are slowly opening ; but recollect what a 
mass of floe-ice there is outside. Let us sound again.” 

The process was renewed this time much easier than be- 
fore, the boxes being already removed. The result was soon 
known. 


334 


THE SEA LIONS. 


“ Well, what news, Gar’ner demanded Daggett, leaning 
down, in a vain endeavor to perceive the almost imperceptible 
marks that distinguished the wet part of the rod from that 
which was dry. “ Do we gain on the leak, or does the leak 
gain on us ? God send it may be the first !” 

“ God has so sent it, sir,” answered Stimson, reverently ; for 
he was holding the lantern, having remained on board the dam- 
aged vessel by the order of his oflScer. “ It is He alone. Cap- 
tain Daggett, who could do this much to seamen in distress.” 

“ Then to God be thanks, as is due ! If we can but keep the 
leak under, the schooner may yet be saved.” 

“ I think it may be done, Daggett,” added Roswell. “ That 
one pump has brought the water down more than two inches ; 
and, in my judgment, the two together would clear her en- 
tirely.” 

“ We’ll pump her till she sucks !” cried Daggett. “ Rig the 
other pump, men, and go to the work heartily.” 

This was done, though not until Roswell ordered fully half 
of his own crew to come to the assistance of his consort. By 
this time the two vessels had filled away, made more sail, and 
were running off before the new wind, retracing* their steps, so 
far as one might judge of the position of the great passage. 
Daggett’s vessel led, and Hazard followed ; Roswell still remain- 
ing on board the injured craft. Thus passed the next few houys. 
The pumps soon sucked, and it was satisfactorily ascertained 
that the schooner could be freed from the water by working at 
them about one-fourth of the time. This was a bad leak, and 
one that would have caused any crew to become exhausted in 
the course of a few days. As Roswell ascertained the facts 
more clearly, he became better satisfied with a decision that, in 
a degree, had been forced on him. He was passively content 
to return with Daggett, convinced that taking the injured ves- 
sel to Rio was out of the question, until some attention had 
been paid to her damages. 

Fortune — or as Stimson would say. Providence — favored our 


THE SEA LIONS. 


335 


mariners greatly in the remainder of their run among the bergs. 
There were several avalanches of snow quite near to them, and 
one more berg performed a revolution at no great distance ; but 
no injury was sustained by either vessel. As the schooners got 
once more near to the field-ice, Roswell went on board his own 
craft*^, and all the boats, which had been towing in the open 
passage, were run up and secured. Gardiner now led, leaving 
his consort to follow as closely in his wake as she could keep. 

Much greater difficulty, and dangers indeed, were encounter- 
ed among the broken and grating floes, than had been expected, 
or previously met with. Notwithstanding fenders were got out 
on all sides, many a rude shock was sustained, and the copper 
suffered in several places. Once or twice, Roswell apprehended 
that the schooners would be crushed by the pressure on their 
I sides. The hazards were in some measure increased by the 
I bold manner in which our navigators felt themselves called on 
to push ahead ; for time was very precious in every sense, not 
only on account of the waning season, but actually on account 
1 of the fatigue undergone by men who were compelled to toil 
i at the pumps one minute in every four. 

• At the return of day, now getting to be later than it had 
j been during the early months of their visit to these seas, our 
I adventurers found themselves in the centre of vast fields of 
floating ice, driving away from the bergs, which, influenced^ by 
i under-currents, were still floating north, while the floes drove 
! to the southward. It was very desirable to get clear of all this 
I cake-ice, though the grinding among it was by no means so 
formidable as when the seas were running high, and the whole 
! of the frozen expanse was in violent commotion. Motion, how- 
1 ever, soon became nearly impossible, except as the schooners 
I drifted in the midst of the mass, which was floating south at the 
1 rate of about two knots. 

! Thus passed an entire day and night. So compact was the 
; ice around them, that the mariners passed from one vessel to 
j the other on it, with the utmost confidence. No apprehension 


336 


THE SEA LIONS. 


was felt so long as the wind stood in its present quarter, the 
fleet of bergs actually forming as good a lee as if they had 
been so much land. On the morning of the second day, all 
this suddenly changed. The ice began to open ; why, was mat- 
ter of conjecture, though it was attributed to a variance be- 
tween the wind and the currents. This, in some measure, lib- 
erated the schooners, and they began to move independently of 
the floes. About noon, the smoke of the volcano became once 
more visible ; and before the sun went down the cap of the 
highest elevation in the group was seen, amid flurries of snow. 

Every one was glad to see these familiar land-marks, dreary 
and remote from the haunts of men as they were known to be ; 
for there was a promise in them of a temporary termination of 
their labors. Incessant pumping — one minute in four being 
thus employed on board the Vineyard craft — was producing its 
customary effect; and the men looked jaded and exhausted. 
No one who has not stood at a pump-break on board a vessel, 
ean form any notion of the nature of the toil, or of the ex- 
treme dislike with which seamen regard it. The tread-mill, as 
we conceive — for our experience extends to the first, though not 
to the last of these occupations — is the nearest approach to the 
pain of such toil, though the convict does not work for his life. 

On the morning of the fourth day, our mariners found them- 
selves in the great bay, in clear water, about a league from the 
cove, and nearly dead to windward of their port. The helms 
were put up, and the schooners were soon within the well- 
known shelter. As they ran in, Roswell gazed around him, in 
regret, awe, and admiration. He could not but regret being 
compelled to lose so much precious time, at that particular 
season. Short as had been his absence from the group, sensi- 
ble changes in the aspect of things had already occurred. 
Every sign of summer — and they had ever been few and meager 
— was now lost; a chill and dreary autumn having sueceeded. 
As a matter of course, nothing was altered about the dwelling ; 
the piles of wood, and other objects placed there by the hands 


THE SEA LIONS. 


337 


of man, remaining just as they had been left; but even these 
looked less cheering, more unavailable, than when last seen. 
To the surprise of all, not a seal was visible. From some cause 
unknown to the men, all of these animals had disappeared, 
thereby defeating one of Daggett’s secret calculations ; this 
provident master having determined, in his own mind, to profit 
by his accident, and seize the occasion to fill up. Some said 
that the creatures had gone north to winter ; others asserted 
that they had been alarmed, and had taken refuge on one of 
the other islands ; but all agreed in saying that they were gone. 

It is known that a seal will occasionally wander a great dis- 
tance from what may be considered his native waters ; but we 
are not at all aware that they are to be considered as migratory 
animals. The lai'ger species usually take a wide range of cli- 
mate to d^vell in, and even the little fur-seal sometimes gets 
astray, and is found on coasts that do not usually come within 
his haunts. As respects the animals that so lately abounded 
on Sealer’s Land, we shall hazard no theory, our business being 
principally with facts ; but a conversation that took place be- 
tween the two chief mates on this occasion may possibly assist 
some inquiring mind in its speculations. 

“ Well, Macy,” said Hazard, pointing along the deserted 
rocks, “ what do you think of that ? Not an animal to be 
seen, where there were lately thousands !” 

“ What do I think of it ? — Why, I think they are off, and 
I’ve know’d such things to happen afore.” — The sealers of 1819 
were not very particular about their English, even among their 
officers. — “ Any man who watches for signs and symptoms, may 
know how to take this.” 

“ I should like to hear it explained ; to me it is quite new.” 

“ The seals are off, and that is a sign we should be off, too. 
There’s my explanation, and you may make what you please of 
it. Natur’ gives sich hints, and no prudent seaman ought to 
overlook ’em. I say, that when the seal go, the sealers should 
go likewise.” 

15 


338 


THE SEA LIONS. 


“And you set this down as a hint from natur’, as you 
call it ?” 

“ I do ; and a useful hint it is. If we was in sailing trim, 
I’d ha’nt the old man, but I’d get him off this blessed night. 
Now, mark my words. Hazard — no good will come of that nip, 
and of this return into port ag’in ; and of all this veering and 
hauling upon cargo.” 

The other mate laughed ; but a call from his commanding 
officer put a stop to the dialogue. Hazard was wanted to help 
secure the schooner of Daggett in the berth in which she was 
now placed. The tides do not appear to rise and fall in very 
high latitudes, by any means, as much as they do in about 50°. 
In the antarctic sea they are reported to be hut of medium ele- 
vation and force. This fact our navigators had noted; and 
Daggett had, at once, carried his schooner on the only thing 
like a beach that was to be found on any part of that wild 
coast. His craft was snug within the cove, and quite handy for 
discharging and taking in. Beach, in a proper sense, it was 
not ; being, with a very trifling exception, nothing hut a shelf 
of rock that was a little inclined, and which admitted of a ves- 
sel’s being placed upon it, as on the floor of a dock. 

Into this berth Daggett took his schooner, while the other 
vessel anchored. There was nearly a whole day before them, 
and all the men were at once set to work to discharge the cargo 
of the injured vessel. To get rid of the pumps, they would 
cheerfully have worked the twenty-four hours without intermis- 
sion. As fast as the vessel was lightened, she was hove further 
and further on the rock, until she was got so high as to be per- 
fectly safe from sinking, or from injuring any thing on board 
her ; when the pumps were abandoned. Before night came, 
however, the schooner was so secured by means of shores, and 
purchases aloft that were carried out to the rocks, as to stand 
perfectly upright on her keel. She was thus protected when 
the tide left her. At low water it was found that she wanted 
eight feet of being high and dry, having already been lightened 


THE SEA LIONS. 


339 


four feet. A good deal of cargo was still in, on this the first 
night after her retui'n. 

The crew of Daggett’s vessel carried their mattresses ashore, 
took possession of the bunks, lighted a fire in the stove, and 
made their preparations to get the camboose ashore next day, 
and do their cooking in the house, as had been practised pre- 
viously to quitting the island. Roswell, and all his people, re- 
mained on board their own vessel. 

The succeeding day the injured schooner was cleared of 
every thing, even to her spars, the lower masts and bowsprit 
excepted. Two large sealing crews made quick work with so 
small a craft. Empty casks were got under her, and at the 
top of the tide she was fioated quite up to the small beach that 
was composed of the debris of rock, already mentioned. As 
the water left her, she fell over a little, of course ; and at half- 
tide her keel lay high and dry. 

The prying eyes of all hands were now busy looking out for 
the leaks. As might have been expected, none were found near 
the garboard streak, a fact that was clearly enough proved by 
a quantity of the water remaining in the vessel after she lay, 

< entirely bare, nearly on her bilge. 

“Her seams have opened a few streaks below the bends,” 

> said Roswell, as he and Daggett went under the vessel’s bottom, 

1 looking out for injuries ; “ and you had better set about getting 
[ off the copper at once. Has there been an examination made 
I inside ?” 

! None had yet been made, and our two masters clambered 
1 up to the main hatch, and got as good a look at the state of 
t things in the hold as could be thus obtained. So tremendous 
had been the pressure, that three of the deck beams were 
j broken. They would have been driven quite clear of their 
j fastenings, had not the wall of ice at each end prevented the 
i possibility of such a thing. As it was, the top- timbers had 
i slightly given way, and the seams must have opened just below 
i the water-line. When the tide came in again, the schooner 

i 


340 


THE SEA LIONS. 


righted of course ; and the opportunity was taken to pump her 
dry. There was then no leak ; another proof that the defec- 
tive places must be sought above the present water-line. 

With the knowledge thus obtained, the copper was removed, 
and several of the seams examined. The condition of the pitch 
and oakum pointed out the precise spots that needed attention, 
and the caulking-irons were immediately set at work. In 
about a week the job was completed, as was fancied, the copper 
replaced, and the schooner was got afloat again. Great was 
the anxiety to learn the effect of what had been done, and 
quite as great the disappointment, when it was found that there 
was still a serious leak, that admitted too much water to think 
of going to sea until it was stopped. A little head-work, how- 
ever, and that on the part of Roswell, speedily gave a direction 
to the search that was immediately set on foot. 

“ This leak is not as low down as the vessel’s bilge,” he said ; 
‘‘ for the water did not run out of her, nor into her, until we 
got her afloat. It is somewhere, then, between her light-water 
load-line and her bilge. Now we have had all the copper ofi*, 
and the seams examined in the wake of this section of the ves- 
sel’s bottom, from the fore-chains to the main; and, in my 
judgment, it will be found that something is wrong about her 
stem, or her stern-post. Perhaps one of her wood ends has 
started. Such a thing might very well have happened under 
so close a squeeze.” 

“ In which case we shall have to lay the craft ashore again, 
and go to work anew,” answered Daggett. “ I see how it is ; 
you do not like the delay, and are thinking of Deacon Pratt 
and Oyster Pond. I do not blame you, Gar’ner; and shall 
never whisper a syllable ag’in you, or your people, if you sail 
for home this very a’ternoon, leaving me and mine to look out 
for ourselves. You’ve stood by us nobly thus far ; and I am 
too thankful for what you have done already, to ask for more.” 

Was Daggett sincere in these professions ? To a certain 
point he was ; while he was only artful on others. He wished 


THE SEA LIONS. 


341 


to appear just and magnanimous ; while, in secret, it was his 
aim to work on the better feelings, as well as on the pride of 
Gardiner, and thus secure his services in getting his own 
schooner ready, as well as keep him in sight until a certain 
key had been examined, in the proceeds of which he conceived 
he had a share, as well as in those of Sealer’s Land. Strange 
as it may seem, even in the strait in which he was now placed, 
with so desperate a prospect of ever getting his vessel home 
again, this man clung like a leech to the remotest chance of 
; obtaining property. There is a bull-dog tenacity on this sub- 
ject among a certain portion of the great American family — 
the god-like Anglo-Saxon — that certainly leads to great results 
I in one respect; but which it is often painful to regard, and 
f never agreeable to any but themselves, to be subject to. Of 
I this school was Daggett, whom no dangers, no toil, no thoughts 
; of a future, could divert from a purpose that was colored by 
S gold. We do not mean to say that other nations are not just 
i as mercenary; many are more so; those in particular that 
I have long been corrupted by vicious governments. You may 
j buy half a dozen Frenchmen, for instance, more easily than one 
ij Yankee ; but let the last actually get his teeth into a dollar, and 
j the muzzle of the ox fares worse in the jaws of the bull-dog. 

J Roswell was deeply reluctant to protract his stay in the 
j group ; but professional pride would have prevented him from 
deserting a consort under such circumstances, had not a better 
j feeling inclined him to remain and assist Daggett. It is true 
< the last had, in a manner, thrust himself on him, and the con- 
!! nection had been strangely continued down to that moment ; 
i but this he viewed as a dispensation of Providence, to which 
j he was bound to submit. The result was a declaration of a de- 
c sign to stand by his companion as long as there was any hope 
I of getting the injured craft home. 

r This decision pointed at once to the delay of another week. 

I No time was lost in vain regrets, however; but all hands 
I went to work to get the schooner into shallow water again, and 


THE SEA LIONS. 


;j42 

to look further for the principal leak. Accurate trimming and 
pumping showed that a good deal of the water was ali'eady 
stopped out ; but too much still entered to render it prudent 
to think of sailing until the injury was repaired. This time 
the schooner was not suffered to lie on her bilge at all. She 
was taken into water just deep enough to permit her to stand 
upright, sustained by shores, while the tide left two or three 
streaks dry forward ; it being the intention to wind her, should 
the examination forward not be successful. 

On stripping off the copper, it was found that a wood-end 
had indeed started, the inner edge of the plank having got as 
far from its bed as where the outer had been originally placed. 
This opened a crack through which a small stream of water 
must constantly pour, each hour rendering the leak more dan- 
gerous by loosening the oakum, and raising the plank from its 
curvature. Once discovered, however, nothing was easier than 
to repair the damage. It remained merely to butt-bolt anew the 
wood-end, drive a few spikes, cork, and replace the copper. 
Roswell, who was getting each moment more and more impa- 
tient to sail, was much vexed at a delay that really seemed un- 
avoidable, as it arose from the particular position of the leak. 
Placed as it was, in a manner, between wind and water, it was 
not possible to work at it more than an hour each tide ; and 
the staging permitted but two hands to be busy at the same 
time. As a consequence of these embarrassments, no less than 
six tides came in and went out, before the stem was pronounced 
tight again. The schooner was then pumped out, and the ves- 
sel was once more taken into deep water. This time it was 
found that the patience and industry of our sealers were re- 
warded with success ; no leak of any account existing. 

“ She’s as tight as a bottle with a sealed cork, Gar’ner,” cried 
Daggett, a few hours after his craft was at her anchor, meeting 
his brother-master at his own gangway, and shaking hands 
with him cordially. “I owe much of this to you, as all on the 
Vineyard shall know, if we ever get home ag’in.” 


niE SEA LIONS. 


343 


“ 1 am rejoiced that it turns out so, Captain Daggett,” was 
. Roswell’s reply ; “ for to own the truth to you, the fortnight we 
have lost, or shall lose, before we get you stowed and ready to 
sail again, has made a great change in our weather. The days 
are shortening with frightful rapidity, and the great bay was 
actually covered with a skim of ice this very morning. The 
wind has sent in a sea that has broken it up ; but look about 
you, in the cove here — a boy might walk on that ice near the 
rocks.” 

“ There’ll be none of it left by night, and the two crows will 
fill me up in twenty-four hours. Keep a good heart, Gar’ner ; 
I’ll take you clear of the bergs in the course of a week.” 

“ I have less fear of the bergs now than of the new ice and 
the floes. The islands must have got pretty well to the north- 
ward by this time ; but each night gets colder, and the fields 
seem to be setting back towards the group, instead of away 
from it.” 

Daggett cheered his companion by a good deal of confident 
talk ; but Roswell was heartily rejoiced when, at the end of 
four-and-twenty hours more, the Vineyard craft was pronounced 
entirely ready. It was near the close of the day, and Gardiner 
was for sailing, or moving at once ; but Daggett offered several 
very reasonable objections. In the first place, there was no 
wind ; and Roswell’s proposition to tow the schooners out into 
the middle of the bay, was met by the objection that the peo- 
ple had been hard at work for several days, and that they 
needed some rest. All that could be gained by moving the 
schooners then, was to get them outside of the skim of ice that 
now regularly formed every still night near the land, but which 
was as regularly broken and dispersed by the waves, as soon as 
the wind returned. Roswell, however, did not like the appear- 
ances of things; and he determined to take his own craft out- 
side, let Daggett do as he might. After discussing the matter 
in vain, therefore, and finding that the people of the other 
schooner had eaten their suppers and turned in, he called all 


344 


THE SEA LIONS. 


hands, and made a short address to his own crew, leaving it to 
their discretion whether to man the boats or not. As Roswell 
had pointed out the perfect absence of wind, the smoothness of 
the water, and the appearances of a severe frost, or cold, for 
frost there was now, almost at mid-day, the men came reluc- 
tantly over to his view of the matter, and consented to work 
instead of sleeping. The toil, however, could be much lessened, 
by dividing the crew into the customary watches. All that 
Roswell aimed at was to get his schooner about a league from 
the cove, which would be taking her without a line drawn from 
cape to cape, the greatest danger of new ice being within the 
curvature of the crescent. This he thought might easily be 
done in the course of a few hours ; and should there come any 
wind, much sooner. On explaining this to the crew, the men 
were satisfied. 

Roswell Gardiner felt as if a load were taken off" his spirits, 
when his schooner was clear of the ground, and his mainsail 
was hoisted. A boat was got ahead, and the craft was slowly 
towed out of the cove, the canvas doing neither good nor harm. 
As the vessel passed that of Daggett, the last was on deck, the 
only person visible in the Vineyard craft. He wished his 
brother-master a good night, promising to be out as soon as 
there was any light next morning. 

It would not be easy to imagine a more dreary scene than 
that in which Deacon Pratt’s schooner moved out into the 
waters that separated the different islands of this remote and 
sterile group. Roswell could just discern the frowning mass 
of rocks that crowned the centre of Sealer’s Land ; and that 
was soon lost in the increasing obscurity. The cold was getting 
to be severe, and the men soon complained that ice was form- 
ing on the blades of their oars. Then it was that a thought 
occurred to our young mariner, which had hitherto escaped 
him. Of what use would it be for his vessel to be beyond the 
ice, if that of Daggett should be shut in the succeeding day ? 
So sensible did he become to the importance of this idea, that 


THE SEA LIONS. 


345 


he called in his boat, and pulled back into the cove, in order to 
make one more efiort to persuade Daggett to follow him out. 

Gardiner found all of the Vineyarders turned in, even to their 
officers. The fatigue they had lately undergone, united to the 
cold, rendered the berths very agreeable ; and even Daggett 
begged his visitor would excuse him for not rising to receive 
his guest. Argument with a man thus circumstanced, and so 
disposed, was absolutely useless. After remaining a short time 
with Daggett, Roswell returned to his own schooner. As he 
pulled back, he ascertained that ice was fast making ; and the 
boat actually cut its way through a thin skim, ere it reached 
the vessel. 

t 

Our hero was now greatly concerned lest he should be frozen 
in himself, ere he could get into the more open water of the 
bay. Fortunately a light air sprung up from the northward, 
and trimming his sails, Gardiner succeeded in carrying his 
craft to a point where the undulations of the ground-swell gave 
the assurance of her being outside the segment of the crescent. 
Then he brailed his foresail, hauled the jib-sheet over, lowered 
his gaff, and put his helm hard down. After this, all the men 
were permitted to seek their berths ; the officers looking out 
for the craft in turns. 

It wanted about an hour of day, when the second mate gave 
Roswell a call, according to orders. The young master found 
no wind, but an intensely cold morning, on going on deck. Ice 
had formed on every part of the rigging and sides of the 
schooner where water had touched them ; though the stillness 
of the night, by preventing the spray from flying, was much in 
favor of the navigators in this respect. On thrusting a boat- 
hook down, Roswell ascertained that the bay around him had 
a skim of ice nearly an inch in thickness. This caused him 
great uneasiness; and he waited with the greatest anxiety 
for the return of light, in order to observe the condition of 
Daggett. 

Sure enough, when the day came out distinctly, it was seen 
15 * 


346 


THE SEA LIONS. 


that ice of suflScient thickness to bear men on it, covered the 
entire surface within the crescent. Daggett and his people 
were already at work on it, using the saw. They must have 
taken the alarm before the return of day ; for the schooner was 
not only free from the ground, but had been brought fully a 
cable’s length without the cove. Gardiner watched the move- 
ments of Daggett and his crew with a glass for a short time, 
when he ordered all hands called. The cook was already in 
the galley, and a warm breakfast was soon prepared. After 
eating this, the two whale-boats were lowered, and Eoswell and 
Hazard both rowed as far as the ice would permit them, when 
they walked the rest of the way to the, imprisoned craft, taking 
with them most of their hands, together with the saw. 

It was perhaps fortunate for Daggett that it soon began to 
blow fresh from the northward, sending into the bay a consid- 
erable sea, which soon broke up the ice, and enabled the Vine- 
yard craft to force her way through the fragments, and join 
her consort about noon. 

Glad enough was Eoswell to regain his own vessel ; and he 
made sail on a wind, determined to beat out of the narrow 
waters at every hazard, the experience of that night having 
told him that they had remained in the cove too long. Dag- 
gett followed willingly, but not like a man who had escaped 
by the skin of his teeth, from wintering near the antarctic 
circle. 


THE SEA HONS. 


34V 




CHAPTER XXII. 

“ Beside the Moldau’s rushing stream, 

With the wan moon overhead, 

There stood, as in an awful dream. 

The army of the dead.” 

Longfellow. 

Most of our readers will understand what was meant by 
Maiy Pratt’s “ inclination of the earth’s axis to the plane of its 
orbit but as there may be a few who do not, and as the con- 
sequences of this great physical fact are materially connected 
with the succeeding events of the narrative, we propose to give 
such a homely explanation of the phenomenon as we humbly 
trust will render it clear to the most clouded mind. The orbit 
of the earth is the path which it follows in space in its annual 
revolution around the sun. To a planet there is no up or down, 
except as ascent and descent are estimated from and towards 
itself. In all other respects it floats in vacuum, or what is so 
nearly so as to be thus termed. Now, let the uninstructed 
reader imagine a large circular table, with a light on its surface, 
and near to its centre. The light shall represent the sun, the 
outer edge of the circle of the table the earth’s orbit, and its 
surface the plane of that orbit. In nature there is no such 
thing as a plane at all, the space within the orbit being vacant; 
but the surface of the table gives a distinct notion of the gen- 
eral position of the earth as it travels around the sun. It is 
scarcely necessary to say that the axis of the earth is an im- 
aginary line drawn through the planet, from one pole to the 
other ; the name being derived from the supposition that our 
daily revolution is made on this axis. 

Now, the first thing that the student is to fix in his mind, in 


348 


THE SEA LIONS. 


order to comprehend the phenomenon of the seasons, is the 
leading fact that the earth does not change its attitude in space, 
if we may so express it, when it changes its position. If the 
axis wftre perpendicular to the plane of the orbit, this circum- 
stance would not affect the temperature, as the simplest experi- 
ment will show. Putting the equator of a globe on the outer 
edge of the table, and holding it perfectly upright^ causing it 
to turn on its axis as it passes round the circle, it would be 
found that the light from the centre of the table would illumine 
just one-half of the globe, at all times and in all positions, cut- 
ting the two poles. Did this movement correspond with that 
of nature, the days and nights would be always of the same 
length, and there would be no changes of the seasons, the 
warmest weather being nearest to the equator, and the cold 
increasing as the poles were approached. Nowhere, however, 
would the cold be so intense as it now is, nor would the heat 
be so great as at present, except at or quite near to the equa- 
tor. The first fact would be owing to the regular return of the 
sun, once in twenty-four hours ; the last to the oblique manner 
in which its rays struck this orb, in all places but near its centre. 

But the globe ought not to be made to move around the table 
with its axis perpendicular to its surface, or to the “ plane of the 
earth’s orbit.” In point of fact, the earth is inclined to this 
plane, and the globe should be placed at a corresponding incli- 
nation. Let the globe be brought to the edge of the table, at 
its south side, and with its upper or north pole inclining to the 
sun, and then commence the circuit, taking care always to keep 
this north pole of the globe pointing in the same direction, or 
to keep the globe itself in what we have termed a fixed attitude. 
As one half of the globe must always be in light, and the other 
half in darkness, this inclination from the perpendicular will 
bring the circle of light some distance beyond the north pole, 
when the globe is due-south from the light, and will leave an 
equal space around the opposite pole without any light at all, 
or any light directly received. Now it is that what we have 


THE SEA LIONS. 


349 


termed the fixed attitude of the globe begins to tell. If the 
north pole inclined towards the orbit facing the rim of the 
table, the light would still cut the poles, the days and nights 
would still be equal, and there would be no changes in the sea- 
sons, though there would be a rival revolution of the globe, by 
causing it to turn once a year, shifting the poles end for end. 

* The inclination being to the surface of the table, or to the 
'plane of the orbit, the phenomena that are known to exist are 
a consequence. Thus it is, that the change in the seasons is as 
i much owing to the fixed attitude of the earth in space, as we 
! have chosen to term its polar directions, as to the inclination of 
I its axis. Neither would produce the phenomena without the 
assistance of the other, as our experiment with the table will 
show. 

Place, then, the globe at the south side of the rim of the 
: table, with its axis inclining towards its surface, and its poles 
' always pointing in the same general direction, not following the 
circuit of the orbit, and set it in motion towards the east, re- 
; volving rapidly on its axis as it moves. While directly south 
i of the light, it would be found that the north pole would be il- 
^ luminated, while no revolution on the axis would bring the 
: south pole within the circle of the light. This is when a line 
; drawn from the axis of the globe would cut the lamp, were the 
f inclination brought as low as the surface of the table. Next 
l set the globe in motion, following the rim of the table, and 
|| proceeding to the east or right hand, keeping its axis always 
' looking in the same general direction, or in an attitude that 
; would be parallel to a north and south line drawn through the 
f sun, were the inclination as low as the surface of the table. 

This movement would be, in one sense, sideways, the circle of 
. light gradually lessening around the north pole, and extending 
i towards the south, as the globe proceeded east and north, di- 
minishing the length of the days in the northern hemisphere, 
\ and increasing them in the southern. When at east, the most 
;i direct rays of the light would fall on the equator, and the light 


350 


THE SEA LIONS. 


would cut the two poles, rendering the days and nights equal. 
As the globe moved north, the circle of light would be found 
to increase around the south pole, while none at all touched 
the north. When on the north side of the table, the northern 
pole of the globe would incline so far from the sun as to leave 
a space around it in shadow that would be of precisely the same 
size as had been the space of light when it was placed on the 
opposite side of the table. Going round the circle west, the 
same phenomena would be seen, until coming directly south of 
the lamp, the north pole would again come into light altogeth- 
er, and the south equally into shadow. 

Owing to this very simple but very wonderful provision of 
divine power and wisdom, this earth enjoys the relief of the 
changes in the seasons, as well as the variations in the length 
of the days. For one half of the year, or from equinox to 
equinox, from the time when the globe is at a due-west point of 
the table until it reaches the east, the north pole would always 
receive the light, in a circle around it, that would gradually in- 
crease and diminish ; and for the other half, the same would be 
true of the other hemisphere. Of course there is a precise 
point on the earth where this polar illumination ceases. The 
shape of the illuminated part is circular ; and placing the point 
of a pencil on the globe at the extremest spot on the circle, 
holding it there while the globe is turned on its axis, the lines 
made would just include the portions of the earth around the 
globe that thus receives the rays of the sun at midsummer. 
These lines compose what are termed the arctic and antarctic 
circles, with the last of which our legend has now a most seri- 
ous connection. After all, we are by no means certain that we 
have made our meaning as obvious as we could wish, it being 
very difficult to explain phenomena of this nature clearly, with- 
out actually experimenting. 

It is usual to say that there are six months day and six 
months night in the polar basins. This is true, literally, at the 
poles only ; but, approximatively, it is tiaie as a whole. We 


THE SEA HONS. 


351 


apprehend that few persons — none, perhaps, but those who are 
in habits of study — form correct notions of the extent of what 
may be termed the icy seas. As the polar circles are in 23° 
28", a line drawn through the south pole, for instance, com- 
mencing on one side of the earth at the antarctic circle, and 
extending to the other, would traverse a distance materially ex- 
ceeding that between New York and Lisbon. This would make 
those frozen regions cover a portion of this globe that is almost 
as large as the whole of the Atlantic Ocean, as far south as the 
equator. Any one can imagine what must be the influence of 
frost over so vast a surface, in reproducing itself, since the pres- 
ence of icebergs is thought to affect our climate, when many 
of them drift far south in summer. As power produces power, 
riches wealth, so does cold produce cold. Fill, then, in a cer- 
tain degree, a space as large as the North Atlantic Ocean with 
ice in all its varieties, fixed, mountain and field, berg and floe, 
and one may get a tolerably accurate notion of the severity of 
its winters, when the sun is scarce seen above the horizon at all, 
and then only to shed its rays so obliquely as to be little better 
than a chill-looking orb of light, placed in the heavens simply 
to divide the day from the night. 

This, then, was the region that Roswell Gardiner was so very 
anxious to leave ; the winter he so much dreaded. Mary Pratt 
was before him, to say nothing of his duty to the deacon ; while 
behind him was the vast polar ocean just described, about to be 
veiled in the freezing obscurity of its long and gloomy twilight, 
if not of absolute night. No wonder, therefore, that when he 
trimmed his sails that evening, to beat out of the great bay, 
it was done with the earnestness with which we all perform 
duties of the highest import, when they are known to affect our 
well-being, visibly and directly. 

“ Keep her a good full, Mr. Hazard,” said Roswell, as he was 
leaving the deck, to take the first sleep in which he had in- 
dulged for four-and-twenty hours ; “ and let her go through the 
water. We are behind our time, and must keep in motion. 


352 


THE SEA LIONS. 


Giye me a call if any thing like ice appears in a serious 
way.” 

Hazard “ay-ay’d” this order, as usual, buttoned his pea- 
jacket tighter than ever, and saw his young superior — the tran- 
scendental delicacy of the day is causing the difierence in rank 
to be termed “ senior and junior'''' — but Hazard saw his supe- 
rior go below, with a feeling allied to envy, so heavy were his 
eyelids with the want of rest. Stimson was in the first-mate’s 
watch, and the latter approached that old sea-dog with a wish 
to keep himself awake by conversing. 

“You seem as wide awake, king Stephen,” the mate remark- 
ed, “ as if you never felt drowsy I” 

“ This is not a part of the world for hammocks and berths, 
Mr. Hazard,” was the reply. “ I can get along, and must get 
along, with a quarter part of the sleep in these seas as would 
sarve me in a low latitude.” 

“ And I feel as if I wanted all I can get. Them fellows look 
up well into our wake, Stephen.” 

“They do indeed, sir, and they ought to do it; for we have 
been longer than is for our good, in their’n.” 

“Well, now we have got a fresh start, I hope we may make 
a clear run of it. I saw no ice worth speaking of to the 
nor’ard here, before we made sail.” 

“ Because you see’d none, Mr. Hazard, is no proof there is 
none. Floe-ice can’t be seen at any great distance, though its 
blink may. But, it seems to me, it’s all blink in these here 
seas !” 

“ There you’re quite right, Stephen ; for turn which way you 
will, the horizon has a show of that sort — ” 

“Starboard!” called out the lookout forward — “keep her 
away — keep her away — there is ice ahead.” 

“ Ice in here 1” exclaimed Hazard, springing forward — “ That is 
more than we bargained for 1 Where away is your ice. Smith ?” 

“ Oft* here, sir, on our weather bow — and a mortal big field 
of it — jist sich a chap as nipped the Vineyard Lion, when she 


THE SEA LIONS. 


353 


first came in to join us. Sich a fellow as that would take the sap 
out of our bends, as a squeezer takes the juice from a lemon !” 

Smith was a carpenter by trade, which was probably the 
reason why he introduced this figure. Hazard saw the ice with 
regret, for he had hoped to work the schooner fairly out to sea 
in his watch ; but the field was getting down through the pas- 
sage in a way that threatened to cut off the exit of the two 
schooners from the bay. Daggett kept close in his wake, a 
i proof that this experienced navigator in such waters saw no 

I means to turn farther to windward. As the wind was now 
abeam, both vessels drove rapidly ahead ; and in half an hour 
the northern point of the land they had so lately left came into 
view close aboard of them. Just then the moon rose, and ob- 
jects became more clearly visible. 

Hazard hailed the Vineyard Lion and demanded what was to 
I be done. It was possible, by hauling close on a wind, to pass 
the cape a short distance to windward of it, and seemingly thus 
clear the floe. Unless this were done, both vessels would be 
compelled to ware, and run for the southern passage, which 
ii would carry them many miles to leeward, and might place them 
: a long distance on the wrong side of the group. 

“Is Captain Gar’ner on deck?” asked Daggett, who had now 
drawn close up on the lee-quarter of his consort. Hazard having 
i brailed his foresail and laid his topsail sharp aback, to enable 
i him to do so — “ If he isn’t. I’d advise you to give him a call 
; at once.” 

i This was done immediately ; and while it was doing, the 
I Vineyard Lion swept past the Oyster Pond schooner. Roswell 
announced his presence on deck just as the other vessel cleared 
f his bows. 

! “There’s no time to consult, Gar’ner,” answered Daggett. 
' “ There’s our road before us. Go through it we must, or stay 
' where we are until that field-ice gives us a jam down yonder 
in the crescent. I will lead, and you can follow as soon as 
I your eyes are open.” 


354 


THE SEA LIONS. 


One glance let Roswell into the secret of his situation. He ' 
liked it little, but he did not hesitate. ’ 

“ Fill the topsail, and haul aft the foresheet,” were the quiet 
orders that proclaimed what he intended to do. 1 

Both vessels stood on. By some secret process, every man on j 
board the two craft became aware of what was going on, and j 
appeared on deck. All hands were not called, nor was there ! 
any particular noise to attract attention ; but the word had 
been whispered below that there was a great risk to run. A | 
risk it was, of a verity ! It was necessary to stand close along j 
that iron-bound coast where the seals had so lately resorted, for i 
a distance of several miles. The wind would not admit of the | 
schooners steering much more than a cable’s length from the ’ 
rocks for quite a league ; after which the shore trended to the | 
southward, and a little sea-room would be gained. But on those j 
rocks the waves were then beating heavily, and their hello wings i 
as they rolled into the cavities were at almost all times terrific, j 
There was some relief, however, in the knowledge obtained of 
the shore, by having frequently passed up and down it in the 
boats. It was known that the water was deep close to the vis- 
ible rocks, and that there was no danger so long as a vessel 
could keep off* them. 

No one spoke. Every eye was strained to discern objects 
ahead, or was looking astern to trace the expected collision be- 
tween the floe-ice and the low promontory of the cape. The | 
ear soon gave notice that this meeting had already taken place ; i 
for the frightful sound that attended the cracking and rending j 
of the field might have been heard fully a league. Now it was i 
that each schooner did her best. Yards were braced up, sheets i 
flattened, and the helm tended. The close proximity of the j 
rocks on the one side, and the secret presentiment of there i 
being more field-ice on the other, kept every one wide awake. 
The two masters, in particular, were all eyes and ears. It was 
getting to be very cold ; and the sort of shelter aloft that goes 
by the quaint name of “ crow’s-nest,” had been fitted up in 


THE SEA LIONS. 


355 


each vessel. A mate was now sent into each, to ascertain what 
might be discovered to windward. Almost at the same in- 
stant, these young seamen hailed their respective decks, and 
gave notice that a wide field was coming in upon them, and 
must eventually crush them, unless avoided. This startling in- 
telligence reached the two commanders in the very same mo- 
ment. The emergency demanded decision, and each man acted 
for himself. Roswell ordered his helm put down^ and his 
schooner tacked. The water was not rough enough to prevent 
the success of the manoeuvre. On the other hand, Daggett kept 
' a rap full, and stood on. Roswell manifested the most judg- 
ment and seamanship. He was now far enough from the cape 
to beat to windward ; and, by going nearer to the enemy, he 
might always run along its southern boundary, profit by any 
opening, and would be by as much as he could thus gain, to 
windward of the coast. Daggett had one advantage. By 
standing on, in the event of a return becoming necessary, he 
would gain in time. In ten minutes the two schooners were a 
mile asunder. We shall first follow that of Roswell Gardiner’s, 
in his attempt to escape. 

The first floe, which was ripping and tearing one of its angles 
into fragments, as it came grinding down on the cape, soon 
\ compelled the vessel to tack. Making short reaches, Roswell 
: ere long found himself fully a mile to windward of the rocks, 

' and sufficiently near to the new floe to discern its shape, drift, 

; and general character. Its eastern end. had lodged upon the 
' field that first came in, and was adding to the vast momentum 
; with which that enormous floe was pressing down upon the 
! cape. Large as was that first visitor to the bay, this was of at 
i least twice if not of thrice its dimensions. What gave Roswell 
' the most concern was the great distance that this field extended 
t to the westward. He went up into the crow’s-nest himself, and 
aided by the light of a most brilliant moon, and a sky without 
a cloud, he could perceive the blink of ice in that direction, as 
he fancied, for fully two leagues. What was unusual, perhaps. 


356 


THE SEA LIONS. 


at that early season of the year, these floes did not consist of a 
vast collection of numberless cakes of ice ; but the whole fleld, 
so far as could then be ascertained, was firm and united. The 
nights were now so cold that ice made fast wherever there was 
water; and it occurred to our young master that, possibly, 
fragments that had once been separated and broken by the 
waves, might have become reunited by the agency of the frost. 
Koswell descended from the crow’s-nest half chilled by a cut- 
ting wind, though it blew from a warm quarter. Summoning 
his mates, he asked their advice. 

“ It seems to me, Captain Gar’ner,’’ Hazard replied, “ there’s 
very little choice. Here we are, so far as I can make it out, 
embayed, and we have only to box about until daylight comes, 
when some chance may turn up to help us. If so, we must 
turn it to account ; if not, we must make up our minds to win- 
ter here.” 

This was coolly and calmly said ; though it was clear enough 
that Hazard was quite in earnest. 

“ You forget there may be an open passage to the westward, 
Mr. Hazard,” Roswell rejoined, “ and that we may yet pass out to 
sea by it. Captain Daggett is already out of sight in the west- 
ern board, and we may do well to stand on after him.” 

“ Ay, ay, sir — I know all that. Captain Gar’ner, and it may 
be as you say ; but when I was aloft, half an hour since, if 
there w^asn’t the blink of ice in that direction, quite round to 
the back of the island, there wasn’t the blink of ice now'here 
hereabouts. I’m used to the sight of it, and can’t well be mis- 
taken.” 

“ There is always ice on that side of the land. Hazard, and 
you may have seen the blink of the bergss which have hugged 
the cliffs in that quarter all summer. Still that is not proving 
we shall find no outlet. This craft can go through a very 
small passage, and we must take care and find one in proper 
time. Wintering here is out of the question. A hundred rea- 
sons tell us not to think of such a thing, besides the interests 


THE SEA LIONS. 


351 


of our owners. We are walking along* this floe pretty fast, 
though I think the vessel is too much by the head ; don’t it 
strike you so, Hazard ?” 

“ Lord, sir, it’s nothing but the ice that has made, and is 
making for’ard ! Before we got so near the field as to find a 
better lee, the little lipper that came athwart our bows froze 
almost as soon as it wet us. I do suppose, sir, there are now 
several tons of ice on our bows, counting from channel to 
channel, forward.” 

On an examination this proved to be true, and the knowl- 
edge of the circumstance did not at all contribute to Gardiner’s 
i feeling of security. He saw there was no time to be lost, and 
^ he crowded sail with a view of forcing the vessel past the dan- 
|i gers if possible, and of getting her into a milder climate. But 
i even a fast-sailing schooner will scarcely equal our wishes un- 
der such circumstances. There was no doubt that the Sea 
: Lion’s speed was getting to be affected by the manner in which 
I her bows were weighed down by ice, in addition to the dis- 
; comfort produced by cold, damp, and the presence of a slippery 
i substance on the deck and rigging. Fortunately there was 
: not much spray flying, or matters would have been much 
worse. As it was, they were bad enough, and very ominous 
I of future evil. 

; While the Sea Lion of Oyster Pond was running along the 
j margin of the ice in the manner just described, and after the 
I blink to the westward had changed to a visible field, making 
I it very uncertain whether any egress was to be found in that 
! quarter or not, an opening suddenly appeared trending to the 
! northward, and sufficiently wide, as Roswell thought, to en- 
! able him to beat through it. Putting his helm down, his 
I schooner came heavily round, and was filled on a course that 
‘ soou carried her half a mile into this passage. At first, every 
! thing seemed propitious, the channel rather opening than other- 
wise, while the course was such — north-northwest — as enabled 
f the vessel to make very long legs on one tack, and that the 


358 


THE SEA LIONS. 


best. After going about four or five times, however, all these flat- 
tering symptoms suddenly changed, by the passage’s termina- 
ting in a cul de sac. Almost at the same instant the ice closed 
rapidly in the schooner’s wake. An effort was made to run 
back, but it failed, in consequence of an enormous floe’s turn- 
ing on its centre, having met resistance from a field closer in, 
that was, in its turn, stopped by the rocks. Roswell saw at 
once that nothing could be done at the moment. He took in 
all his canvas, as well as the frozen cloth could be handled, got 
out ice-anchors, and hauled his vessel into a species of cove where 
there would be the least danger of a nip, should the fields con- 
tinue to close. 

All this time Daggett was as busy as a bee. He rounded 
the headland, and flattered himself that he was about to slip 
past all the rocks, and get out into open water, when the vast 
fields of which the blink had been seen even by those in the 
other vessels, suddenly stretched themselves across his course 
in a way that set at defiance all attempts to go any further in 
that direction. Daggett Avore round, and endeavored to re- 
turn. This was by no means so easy as it was to go down be- 
fore the wind, and his bows Avere also much encumbered Avith 
ice ; more so, indeed, than those of the other schooner. Once 
or tAvice his craft missed stays in consequence of getting so 
much by the head, and it Avas deemed necessary to heave-to, 
and take to the axes. A great deal of extra and cumbrous 
weight Avas gotten rid of, but an hour of most precious time 
Avas lost. 

By the time Daggett was ready to make sail again, he found 
his return round the headland w^as entirely cut off, by the field’s 
having come in absolute contact Avith the rocks. 

It Avas noAV midnight, and the men on board both vessels 
required rest. A watch Avas set in each, and most of the peo- 
ple Avere permitted to turn in. Of course, proper look-outs Avere 
had, but the light of the moon was not sufficiently distinct to 
render it safe to make any final efforts under its favor. No 


THE SEA LIONS. 


359 


great alarm was felt, there being nothing unusual in the ves- 
sel’s being embayed in the ice ; and so long as she was not 
nipped or pressed upon by actual contact, the position was 
thought safe rather than the reverse. It was desirable, more- 
over, for the schooners to communicate with each other ; for 
some advantage might be known to one of the masters that 
was concealed by distance from his companion. Without con- 
cert, therefore, Roswell and Daggett came to the same general 
conclusions, and waited patiently. 

The day came at last, cold and dreary, though not altogether 
without the relief of an air that blew from regions far warmer 
than the ocean over which it was now travelling. Then the 
two schooners became visible from each other, and Roswell 
saw the jeopardy of Daggett, and Daggett saw the jeopardy of 
Roswell. The vessels were little more than a mile apart, but 
the situation of the Vineyard Lion was much the most critical. 
She had made fast to the floe, but her support itself was in a 
steady and most imposing motion. As soon as Roswell saw 
the manner in which his consort was surrounded, and the very 
threatening aspect of the danger that pressed upon him, his 
first impulse was to hasten to him, with a party of his own 
people, to ofier any assistance he could give. After looking at 
the ice immediately around his own craft, where all seemed to 
be right, he called over the names of six of his men, ordered 
them to eat a warm breakfast, and to prepare to accompany 
him. 

In tw'enty minutes, Roswell was leading his little party 
across the ice, each man carrying an axe, or some other imple- 
ment that it was supposed might be of use. It was by no 
means difiicult to proceed; for the surface of the floe, one 
seemingly more than a league in extent, was quite smooth, and 
the snow on it was crusted to a strength that would have 
borne a team. 

“ The water between the ice and the rocks is a much nar- 
row’er strip than I had thought,” said Roswell, to his constant 


360 


THE SEA LIONS. 


attendant, Stimson. “ Here it does not appear to be a hundred 
yards in width.” 

“Nor is it, sir — whew — this trotting in so cold a climate 
makes a man puff like a whale blowing — but, Captain Gar’ner, 
that schooner will be cut in two before we can get to her. 
Look, sir ; the floe has reached the rocks already, quite near 
her, and it does not stop the drift at all, seemingly.” 

Roswell made no reply ; the state of the Vineyard Lion did ap- 
pear to be much more critical than he had previously imagined. 
Until he came nearer to the land, he had formed no notion of 
the steady power with which the fleld was setting down on the 
rocks on which the broken fragments were now creeping like 
creatures endowed with life. Occasionally, there would be loud 
disruptions, and the movement of the floe would become 
more rapid ; then, again, a sort of pause would succeed, and 
for a moment the approaching party felt a gleam of hope. 
But all expectations of this sort were doomed to be disap- 
pointed. 

“ Look, sir,” exclaimed Stimson — “ she went down afore it 
twenty fathoms at that one set. She must be awful near the 
rocks, sir.” 

All the men now stopped. They knew they were powerless ; 
and intense anxiety rendered them averse to move. Attention 
appeared to interfere with their walking on the ice ; and each 
held his breadth in expectation. They saw that the schooner, 
then less than a cable’s length from them, was close to the 
rocks; and the next shock, if any thing like the last, must 
overwhelm her. To their astonishment, instead of being nip- 
ped, the schooner rose by a stately movement that was not 
without grandeur, upheld by broken cakes that had got be- 
neath, her bottom, and fairly reached the shelf of rocks almost 
unharmed. Not a man had left her ; but there she was, placed 
on the shore, some twenty feet above the surface of the sea, on 
rocks worn smooth by the action of the waves ! Had the sea- 
son been propitious, and did the injury stop here, it might have 


THE SEA LIONS. 


361 


I been possible to get the craft into the water again, and still 
j carry her to America. 

But the floe was not yet arrested. Cake succeeded cake, one 
i riding over anothei*, until a wall of ice rose along the shore, 
: that Roswell and his companions, with all their activity and 

i courage, had great difficulty in crossing. They succeeded in 
‘ getting over it, however ; but when they reached the unfortu- 
j nate schooner, she was literally buried. The masts were broken, 
I the sails torn, rigging scattered, and sides stove. The Sea Lion 
I! of Martha’s Vineyard was a worthless wreck — worthless as to 
l! all purposes but that of being converted into materials for a 

smaller craft, or to be used as fuel. 

All this had been done in ten minutes ! Then it was that 
the vast superiority of nature over the resources of man made 
itself apparent. The people of the two vessels stood aghast with 
this sad picture of their own insignificance before their eyes. 
The crew of the wreck, it is true, had escaped without difficul- 
1 ! ty ; the movement having been as slow and steady as it was 
irresistible. But there they were, in the clothes they had on, 
with all their effects buried under piles of ice that were already 
: thirty or forty feet in height. 

I “ She looks as if she w^as built there, Gar’ner !” Daggett 

ii coolly observed, as he stood regarding the scene with eyes as 
i' intently riveted on the wreck as human organs were ever fixed 
! on any object. “ Had a man told me this could happen, I 

would not have believed him !” 

“ Had she been a three-decker, this ice would have treated 
her in the same way. There is a force in such a field that walls 
of stone could not withstand.” 

“ Captain Gar’ner — Captain Gar’ner,” called out Stimson, 

' hastily ; “ we’d better go back, sir ; our own craft is in danger. 

5 She is drifting fast in towards the cape, and may reach it afore 
we can get to her !” 

Sure enough, it was so. In one of the changes that are so 
unaccountable among the ice, the floe had taken a sudden and 

16 


362 


THE SEA LIONS. 


powerful direction towards the entrance of the Great Bay. It 
was probably owing to the circumstance that the inner field 
had forced its way past the cape, and made room for its neigh- 
bor to follow. A few of Daggett’s people, with Daggett him- 
self, remained, to see what might yet be saved from the wreck; 
but all the rest of the men started for the cape, towards which 
the Oyster Pond craft was now directly setting. The distance 
was less than a league ; and, as yet, there was not much snow on 
the rocks. By taking an upper shelf, it was possible to make 
pretty good progress ; and such was the manner of Roswell’s 
present march. 

It was an extraordinary sight to see the coast along which 
our party was hastening, just at that moment. As the cakes 
of ice were broken from the field, they were driven upward by 
the vast pressure from without, and the whole line of the shore 
seemed as if alive with creatures that were issuing from the 
ocean to clamber on the rocks. Roswell had often seen that 
very coast peopled with seals, as it now appeared to be in activity 
with fragments of ice, that were writhing, and turning, and 
rising, one upon another, as if possessed of the vital principle. 

In half an hour Roswell and his party reached the house. 
The schooner was then less than half a mile from the spot, 
still setting in, along with the outer field, but not nipped. So 
far from being in danger of such a calamity, the little basin in 
which she lay had expanded, instead of closing ; and it would 
have been possible to handle a quick-working craft in it, under 
her canvas. An exit, however, was quite out of the question ; 
there being no sign of any passage to or from that icy dock. 
There the craft still lay, anchored to the weather-floe, while the 
portion of her crew which remained on board was as anxiously 
watching the coast as those who were on the coast watched 
. her. At first, Roswell gave his schooner up ; but on closer ex- 
amination found reason to hope that she might pass the rocks, 
and enter the inner, rather than the Great Bay. 


THE SEA LIONS. 


363 


CHAPTER XXIII. 

“ To prayer ; — for the glorious sun is gone, 

And the gathering darkness of night comes on; 

Like a curtain from God's kind hand it flows, 

To shade the couch where his children repose. 

Then kneel, while the watching stars are bright, 

And give your last thoughts to the guardian of night.” 

Wakk. 

Desolate, indeed, and nearly devoid of hope, had the situa- 
tion of our sealers now become. It was midday, and it was 
freezing everywhere in the shade. A bright genial sun was 
shedding its glorious rays on the icy panorama ; but it was so 
obliquely as to be of hardly any use in dispelling the frosts. 
Far as the eye could see, even from the elevation of the cape, 
there was nothing but ice, with the exception of that part of 
the Great Bay into which the floe had not yet penetrated. To 
the southward, there stood clustering around the passage a line 
of gigantic bergs, placed like sentinels, as if purposely to stop 
all egress in that direction. The water had lost its motion in 
the shift of wind, and new ice had formed over the whole bay, 
as was evident by a white sparkling line that preceded the 
irresistible march of the floe. 

As Roswell gazed on this scene, serious doubts darkened his 
mind as to his escaping from this frozen chain until the return 
of another summer. It is true that a south wind might possi- 
bly produce a change, and carry away the blockading mass ; 
but every moment rendered this so much the less probable. 
Winter, or what would be deemed winter in most regions, was 
already setting in ; and should the ice really become stationary 
in and around the group, all hope of its moving must vanish 
for the next eight months. 


364 


THE SEA LIONS. 


Daggett reached the house about an hour before sunset. lie 
had succeeded in cutting a passage through the ice as far as the 
cabin-door of his unfortunate schooner, when there was no diffi- 
culty in descending into the interior parts of the vessel. The 
whole party came in staggering under heavy loads. Pretty 
much as a matter of course, each man brought his own effects. 
Clothes, tobacco, rum, small-stores, bedding, quadrants, and 
similar property, was that first attended to. At that moment, 
little was thought of the skins and oil. The cargo was neg- 
lected, while the minor articles had been eagerly sought. 

Roswell was on board his own schooner, now again in dan- 
gerous proximity to the cape. She was steadily setting in, 
when Daggett rejoined him. The crew of the lost vessel re- 
mained in the house, where they lighted a fire and deposited 
their goods, returning to the wreck for another load, taking the 
double sets of wheels along with them. When the two masters 
met, they conferred together earnestly, receiving into their 
councils such of the officers as were on board. The security of 
the remaining vessel was now all-important ; and it was not to 
be concealed that she was in imminent jeopardy. The course 
taken by the floe was directly towards the most rugged part of 
Cape Hazard ; and the rate of the movement such as to threaten , 
a very speedy termination of the matter. There was one cir- , 
cumstance, however, and only that one, which offered a single * 
chance to escape. The opening around the schooner still ex- i 
isted in part, about half of it having been lost in the collision 
with the outermost point of the rocks. It was this species of 
vacuum that, by removing all resistance at that particular 
spot, indeed, which had given the field its most dangerous cant, 
turning the movement of the vessel towards the rocks. The 
chance, therefore, existed in the possibility — and it was little 
more than a bare possibility — of moving the schooner in that 
small area of open water, and of taking her far enough south 
to clear the most southern extremity of the wall of stone that '' 
protected the cave. As yet, this open water did not extend far ■ 


THE SEA LIONS. 


365 


i enough to admit of the schooner’s, being taken to the point in 
I question ; but it was slowly tending in that direction, and did 
I not the basin close altogether ere that desirable object was 
achieved, the vessel might yet be saved. In order, however, to 
I do this, it would be necessary to cut a sort of dock or slip in 
I the ice of the cove, into which the craft might shoot, as a place 
I of refuge. Once within the cove, fairly behind the point of the 
I rocks, there would be perfect safety ; if suffered to drift to the 
j southward of that shelter, this schooner would probably be lost 
! like her consort, and very much in the same manner. 

Gardiner now sent a gang of hands to the desired point, 

I armed with saws, and the slip was commenced. The ice in the 
I cove was still only two or three inches thick, and the work 
' went bravely on. Instead of satisfying himself with cutting a 
passage merely behind the point of rock. Hazard opened one 
quite up into the cove, to the precise place where the schooner 
had been so long at anchor. Just as the sun was setting, the 
crisis arrived. So heavy had been the movement towards the 
^ rock, that Roswell saw he could delay no longer. Were he to 
^ continue where he was, a projection on the cape would prevent 
\ his passage to the entrance of the cove ; he would be shut in, 
j and he might be certain that the Sea Lion would be crushed if 
1 the floe pressed home upon the shore. The ice-anchors were 
I cut out accordingly, the jib was hoisted, and the schooner wore 
I short round on her heel. The space between the floe and the 
projection in the rocks just named, did not now exceed a hun- 
dred feet ; and it was lessening fast. Much more room existed 
on each side of this particular excrescence in the rugged coast, 
the space north being still considerable, while that to the south- 
ward might be a hundred yards in width ; the former of these 
areas being owing to the form of the basin, and the latter to the 
shape of the shore. 

In the first of the basins named, the schooner wore short 
round on her heel, her foresail being set to help her. A breath- 
less moment passed as she ran down towards the narrow strait. 


366 


THE SEA LIONS. 


It was quickly reached, and that none too soon ; the opening 
now not exceeding sixty feet. The yards of the vessel almost 
brushed the rocks in passing ; but she went clear. As soon as 
in the lower basin, as one might call it, the jib and foresail 
were taken in, and the head of the mainsail was got on the 
craft. This helped her to luff up towards the slip, which she 
reached under sufficient head-way fairly to enter it. Lines 
were thrown to the people on the ice, who soon hauled the 
schooner up to the head of her frozen dock. Three cheers 
broke spontaneously out of the throats of the men, as they thus 
achieved the step which assured them of the safety of the ves- 
sel so far as the ice was concerned ! In this way do w^e esti- 
mate our advantages and disadvantages by comparison. In the 
abstract, the situation of the sealers was still sufficiently pain- 
ful; though compared with what it would have been with the 
other schooner wrecked, it was security itself. 

By this time it was quite dark ; and a day of excitement aud 
fatigue required a night of rest. After supping, the men turned 
in ; the Vineyarders mostly in the house, where they occupied 
their old bunks. When the moon rose, the party from the 
wreck arrived, with their carts well loaded, and themselves half 
frozen, notwithstanding their toil. In a short time, all were 
buried in sleep. 

When Roswell Gardiner came on deck next morning, his first 
glance told him how little was the chance of his party’s re- 
turning north that season. The strange floe had driven into 
the Great Bay, completely covering its surface, lining the shores 
far and near with broken and glittering cakes of ice ; and, as it 
were, hermetically sealing the place against all egress. New 
ice, an inch or two thick, or even six or eight inches thick, 
might have been sawed through, and a passage cut even for a 
league, should it be necessary. Such things were sometimes 
done, and great as would have been the toil, our sealers would 
have attempted it, in preference to running the risk of passing 
a winter in that region. But almost desperate as would have 


THE SEA LIONS. 


367 


been even that source of refuge, the party was completely cut 
off from its possession. To think of sawing through ice as 
thick as that of the floe, for any material distance, would be 
like a project to tunnel the Alps. 

Melancholy was the meeting between Roswell and Daggett 
that morning. The former was too manly and generous to in- 
dulge in reproaches, else might he well have told the last that 
all this was owing to him. There is a singular propensity in 
us all to throw the burden of our own blunders on the shoul- 
ders of other folk. Roswell had a little of this weakness, over- 
looking the fact that he was his own master ; and as he had 
come to the group by himself, he ought to have left it in the 
same manner, as soon as his own particular task was accom- 
plished. But Roswell did not see this quite as distinctly as he 
saw the fact that Daggett’s detentions and indirect appeals to 
his better feelings had involved him in all these difiiculties. 
Still, while thus he felt, he made no complaint. 

All hope of getting north that season now depended on the 
field-ice drifting away from the Great Bay before it got fairly 
frozen in. So jammed and crammed with it did every part of 
the bay appear to be, however, that little could be expected 
from that source of relief. This Daggett admitted in the con- 
versation he held with Roswell, as soon as the latter joined him 
on the rocky terrace beneath the house. 

“ The wisest thing we can do, then,” replied our hero, “ will 
be to make as early preparations as possible to meet the winter. 
If we are to remain here, a day gained now will be worth a 
week a month hence. If we should happily escape, the labor 
thus expended will not kill us.” 

“Quite true — very much as you say, certainly,” answered 
Daggett, musing. “I was thinking as you came ashore, 
Gar’ner, if a lucky turn might not be made in this wise : I Imve 
a good many skins in the wreck, you see, and you have a good 
deal of ile in your hold — now, by starting some of that ile, 
and pumping it out, and shooking the casks, room might be 


368 


THE SEA LIONS. 


made aboard of you for all my skins. I think we could run 
all of the last over on them wheels in the course of a week.” 

“ Captain Daggett, it is by yielding so much to your skins 
that we have got into all this trouble.” 

“Skins, measure for measure, in the Avay of tonnage, will 
bring a great deal more than ile.” 

Roswell smiled, and muttered something to himself, a little 
bitterly. He was thinking of the grievous disappointment and 
prolonged anxiety that, it pained him to believe, Mary would 
feel at his failure to return home at the appointed time ; though 
it would probably have pained him more to believe she would 
not thus be disappointed and anxious. Here his displeasure, or 
its manifestation, ceased; and the young man turned his 
thoughts on the present necessities of his situation. 

Daggett appearing very earnest on the subject of removing 
his skins before the snows came to impede the path, Roswell 
could urge no objection that would be likely to prevail ; but 
his acquiescence was obtained by means of a hint from Stim- 
son, who by this time had gained his officer’s ear. 

“ Let him do it. Captain Gar’ner,” said the boat-steerer, in an 
aside speaking respectfully, but earnestly. “ He’ll never stow 
’em in our hold, this season at least ; but they’ll make excel- 
lent filling-in for the sides of this hut.” 

“You think then, Stephen, that we are likely to pass the 
winter here ?” 

“We are in the hands of Divine Providence, sir, which will 
do with us as seems the best in the eyes of never-failing wisdom. 
At all events, Captain Gar’ner, I think ’twill be safest to act at 
once as if we had the winter afore us. In my judgment, this 
house might be made a good deal more comfortable for us all, 
in such a case, than our craft ; for we should not only have 
more room, but might have as many fires as we want, and more 
than we can find fuel for.” 

“ Ay, there’s the difficulty, Stephen. Where are we to find 
wood, throughout a polar winter, for even one fire ?” 


THE SEA LIONS. 


369 


“We must be saving, sir, and thoughtful, and keep ourselves 
warm as much as we cau by exercise. I have had a taste of 
this once, in a small way, already ; and know what ought to be 
done, in many partic’lars. In the first place, the men must 
keep themselves as clean as water will make them — dirt is a 
great helper of cold — and the water must be just as frosty as 
human natur’ can bear it. This will set every thing into actyve 
movement inside, and bring out warmth from the heart, as it 
might be. That’s my principle of keeping warm. Captain 
Gar’ner.” 

“ I dare say it may be a pretty good one, Stephen,” answered 
Roswell, “ and we’ll bear it in mind. As for stoves we are 
well enough off, for there is one in the house, and a good large 
one it is ; then, there is a stove in each cabin, and there are the 
two cambooses. If we had fuel for them all, I should feel no 
concern on the score of warmth.” 

“There’s the wrack, sir. By cutting her up at once, we 
should get wood enough, in my judgment, to see it out.” 

Roswell made no reply ; but he looked intently at the boat- 
steerer for half a minute. The idea was new to him ; and the 
more he thought on the subject, the greater was the confidence 
it gave him in the result. Daggett, he well knew, would not 
consent to the mutilation of his schooner, wreck as it was, so 
long as the most remote hope existed of getting her again into 
! the water. The tenacity with which this man clung to prop- 
i erty was like that which is imputed to the life of the cat ; and 
[ it was idle to expect any concessions from him on a subject 
like that. Nevertheless, necessity is a hard master; and if the 
i question were narrowed down to one of burning the materials 
of a vessel that was in the water, and in good condition, and of 
j burning those of one that was out of the water, with holes cut 
i through her bottom in several places, and otherwise so situated 
, as to render repairs extremely difficult, if not impossible, even 
Daggett would be compelled to submit to circumstances. 

It was accordingly suggested to the people of the Vineyard 

16 ^ 


370 


THE SEA LIONS. 


Lion that they could do no better than to begin at once to re- 
move every thing they could come at, and which could be 
transported from the wreck to the house. As there was little 
to do on board the vessel afloat, her crew cheerfully offered to 
assist in this labor. The days were shortening sensibly and 
fast, and no time was to be lost, the distance being so great as 
to make two trips a day a matter of great labor. No sooner i 
was the plan adopted, therefore, than steps were taken to set 
about its execution. 

It is unnecessary for us to dwell minutely on every thing that 
occurred during the succeeding week or ten days. The wind 
shifted to southwest the very day that the Sea Lion got back 
into her little harbor ; and this seemed to put a sudden check 
on the pressure of the vast floe. Nevertheless, there was no 
counter-movement, the ice remaining in the Great Bay seem- 
ingly as firmly fastened as if it had originally been ijiade there. 
Notwithstanding this shift of the wind to a cold point of the 
compass, the thermometer rose, and it thawed freely about the 
middle of the day, in all places to which the rays of the sun 
had access. This enabled the men to work with more comfort 
than they could have done in the excessively severe weather, 
as it was found that respiration became diflScult when it was so 
very cold. 

Access was now obtained to the wreck by cutting a regular 
passage to the main hatch through the ice. The schooner 
stood nearly upright, sustained by fragments of the floe ; and 
there were extensive caverns all around her, produced by the 
random manner in which the cakes had come up out of their 
proper element like so many living things. Among these cav- 
erns one might have wandered for miles without once coming 
out into the open air, though they were cold and cheerless, and 
had little to attract the adventurer after the novelty was abated. 

In rising from the water, the schooner had been roughly 
treated ; but once sustained by the ice, her transit had been 
easy and tolerably safe. Several large cakes lay on or over 


THE SEA LIONS. 


S'Zl 

her, sustained more by other cakes that rested on the rocks 
than by the timbers of the vessel herself. These cakes formed 
a sort of roof, and as they did not drip, they served to make a 
shelter against the wind ; for, at the point where the wreck lay, 
the southwest gales came howling round the base of the moun- 
tain, piercing the marrow itself in the bones. At the hut it 
was very different. There the heights made a lee that extended 
all over the cape, and for some distance to the westward ; while 
the whole power the sun possessed in that high latitude was 
cast, very obliquely it is true, but clearly, and without any other 
drawback than its position in the ecliptic, fairly on the terrace, 
the hut above, and the rocks around it. On the natural ter- 
race, indeed, it was still pleasant to walk and work, and even 
to sit for a few hours in the middle of the day ; for winter was 
not yet come in earnest in that frozen world. 

One of Roswell’s first objects was to transport most of the 
eatables from the wreck ; for he foresaw the need there would 
be for every thing of the sort. Neither vessel had laid in a 
stock of provisions for a longer period than about twelve months, 
of which nearly half were now gone. This allowance applied 
to salted meats and bread, which are usually regarded as the 
base of a ship’s stores. There were several barrels of flour, a 
few potatoes, a large quantity of onions, a few barrels of corn- 
meal, or “ injin,” as it is usually termed in American parlance, 
an entire barrel of pickled cucumbers, another about half full 
of cabbage preserved in the same way, and an entire barrel of 
molasses. In addition, there was a cask of whiskey, a little 
wine and brandy to be used medicinally, sugar, brown, whitey- 
brown and browny-white, and a pretty fair allowance of tea and 
coffee ; the former being a Hyson-skin, and the latter San Do- 
mingo of no very high quality. Most of these articles were 
transported from the wreck to the house, in the course of the 
few days that succeeded, though Daggett insisted on a certain 
portion of the supplies being left in his stranded craft. Not 
until this was done would Roswell listen to any proposal of 


312 


THE SEA LIONS. 


Daggett’s to transfer the skins. Twice during these few days, 
indeed, did the Vineyard master come to a pause in his pro- 
ceedings, as the weather grew milder, and gleams of a hope of 
being able to get away that season crossed his mind. On the 
last of these occasions of misgiving, Roswell was compelled to 
lead his brother master up on the plain of the island, to an ele- 
vation of some three hundred feet above the level of the ocean, 
and more than half that distance higher than the house, and 
point out to him a panorama of field-ice that the eye could not 
command. Until that vast plain opened, or became riven by 
the joint action of the agitated ocean and the warmth of a sun 
from which the rays did not glance away from the frozen sur- 
face, like light obliquely received, and as obliquely refiected 
from a mirror, it was useless to think of releasing even the un- 
injured vessel ; much less that which lay riven and crushed on 
the rocks. 

“Were every cake of this ice melted into water, Daggett,” 
Roswell continued, “ it would not float off your schooner. The 
best supplied ship-yard in America could hardly furnish the 
materials for ways to launch her ; and I never knew of a ves- 
sel’s being dropped into the water some twenty feet nearly per- 
pendicular.” 

“ I don’t know that,” answered Daggett stoutly. “ See what 
they’re doing now-a-days, and think nothing of it. I have seen 
a whole row of brick houses turned round by the use of jack- 
screws ; and one building actually taken down a hill much higher 
than the distance you name. Commodore Rodgers has just hauled 
a heavy frigate out of the water, and means to put her back 
again, when he has done with her. What has been done once can 
be done twice. I do not like giving up ’till I’m forced to it.” 

“That is plain enough. Captain Daggett,” returned Roswell, 
smiling. “ That you are game, no one can deny ; but it will 
all come to nothing. Neither Commodore Rodgers nor Com- 
modore anybody else could put your craft into the water again 
without something to do it with.” 


THE SEA LIONS. 


373 


“ You think it would be asking too much to take your 
schooner, and go across to the main next season a’ter timber to 
make ways?” put in Daggett, inquiringly. “She stands up 
like a church, and nothing would be easier than to lay down 
ways under her bottom.” 

“ Or more difficult than to make them of any use, after you 
had put them there. No, no, my good sir, you must think no 
more of this ; though it may be possible to make a cover for 
the cargo, and return and recover it all, by freighting a craft 
from Rio, on our way north.” 

Daggett gave a quick, inquisitive glance at his companion, 
and Roswell’s color mounted to his cheeks; for, while he really 
thought the plan just mentioned quite feasible, he was conscious 
of foreseeing that it might be made the means of throwing off 
his troublesome companion, as he himself drew near to the 
West Indies and their keys. 

This terminated the discussion for the time. Both of the 
masters busied themselves in carrying on the duty which had 
now fallen into a regular train. As much of the interest of 
what is to be related will depend on what was done in these 
few days, it may be well to be a little more explicit in stating 
the particulars. 

The reader will understand that the house, of which so much 
had already been made by our mariners, was nothing but a 
shell. It had a close roof, one that effectually turned water, 
and its siding, though rough, was tight and rather thicker than 
is usual ; being made of common inch boards, roughly planed, 
and originally painted red. There were four very tolerable 
windows, and a decent substantial floor of planed plank. All 
this had been well put together, rather more attention than is 
often bestowed on such structures having been paid by the car- 
penter to the cracks and joints on account of the known sharp- 
ness of the climate, even in the warm months. Still, all this 
made a mere shell. The marrow-freezing winds which would 
soon come — had indeed come — might be arrested by such a 


374 


THE SEA LIONS. 


covering, it is true ; but the little needle-like particles of the 
frost would penetrate such a shelter, as their counterparts of 
steel pierce cloth. It was a matter of life and death, therefore, 
to devise means to exclude the cold, in order that the vital heat 
might be kept in circulation during the tremendous season that 
was known to be approaching. 

Stimson had much to say on the subject of the arrangements 
taken. He was the oldest man in the two crews, and the most 
experienced sealer. It happened that he had once passed a 
winter at Orange Harbor, in the immediate vicinity of Cape 
Horn. It is true, that it is an inhabited country, if the poor 
degraded creatures who dwell there can be termed inhabit- 
ants ; and has its trees and vegetation, such as they are. The 
difference between Orange Harbor and Sealer’s Land, in this 
respect, must be something like that which all the travelling 
world knows to exist between a winter’s residence at the Hos- 
pital of the Great St. Bernard, and a winter’s residence at one 
of the villages a few leagues lower down the mountain. At 
Sealer’s Land, if there was literally no vegetation, there was so 
iitiie as scarcely to deserve the name. Of fuel there was none, 
with the exception of that w'hich had been brought there. 
Nevertheless, the experience of a winter passed at such a place 
as Orange Harbor, must count for a great deal. Cape Horn is 
in nearly 56°, and Sealer’s Land — we may as well admit this 
much — is, by no means, 10° to the southward of that. There 
must be a certain general resemblance in the climates of the 
two places ; and he who had gone through a winter at one of 
them, must have had a very tolerable foretaste of what was to 
be suffered at the other. This particular experience, therefore, 
added to his general knowledge, as well as to his character, 
contributed largely to Stephen’s influence in the consulta- 
tions that took place between the two masters, at which he 
was usually present. 

“ It’s useless to be playing off", in an affair like this. Captain 
Gar’ner,” said Stephen, on one occasion. “ Away from this spot 


THE SEA LIONS. 


375 


all tlie navies of the ’artli could not now carry us, until God’s 
sun comes back in liis course, to drive the winter away afore it. 
I have my misgivin’s, gentlemen, touching this great floe that 
has got jammed in among these islands, whether it will ever move 
ag’in ; for I don’t think its coming in here is a common matter.” 

“ In which case, what would become of us, Stephen ?” 

“ Why, sir, we should be at God’s marcy then, jist as we 
be now ; or would be, was we on the east eend itself. I won’t 
say that two resolute and strong arms might not cut a way 
through for one little craft like our’n, if they had summer fully 
afore ’em, and know’d they was a-workin’ towards a fri’nd in- 
stead of towards an inimy. There’s a great deal in the last ; 
every man is encouraged when he thinks he’s nearer to the 
eend of his journey a’ter a hard day’s work, than he was when 
he set out in the mornin’. But to undertake sich an expedi- 
tion at this season, would be sartain destruction. No, sir; all 
we can do now is to lay up for the winter, and that with great 
care and prudence. We must turn ourselves into so many ants, 
and show their forethought and care.” 

“ What would you recommend as our first step, Stimson ?” 
asked Daggett, who had been an attentive listener. 

“ I would advise, sir, to begin hardening the men as soon as 
I could. We have too much fire in the stove, both for our 
stock of wood and for the good of the people. Make the men 
sleep under fewer clothes, and don’t let any on ’em hang about 
the galley fire, as some on ’em love to do, even now, most des- 
perately. Them ’ere men will be good for nothin’ ten weeks 
hence, unless they’re taken off the fires, as a body would take 
off a pot or a kettle, and are set out to harden.” 

“ This is a process that may be easier advised than performed, 
perhaps,” Roswell quietly observed. 

“ Don’t you believe that, Captain Gar’ner. I’ve known the 
most shiverin’, smoke-dried hands in a large crew, hardened 
and brought to an edge, a’ter a little trouble, as a body would 
temper an axe with steel. The first thing to be done is to 


376 


THE SEA LIONS. 


make ’em scrub one another every mornin’ in cold water. This 
gives a life to the skin that acts much the same as a suit ot 
clothes. Yes, gentlemen ; put a fellovr in a tub for a minute 
or two of a mornin’, and you may do almost any thing you 
please with him all day a’terwards. One pail of water is as 
good as a pee-jacket. And above all things, keep the stoves 
clear. The cooks should be told not to drive their fires so 
hard ; and we can do without the stove in the sleeping-room a 
great deal better now than most on us think. It will help to 
save much wood, if we begin at once to caulk and thicken our 
siding, and make the house warmer. Was the hut in a good 
state, we might do without any other fire than that in the cam- 
boose for two months yet.” 

Such was the general character of Stephen’s counsel, and 
very good advice it was. Not only did Roswell adopt the 
scrubbing process, which enabled him to throw aside a great 
many clothes in the course of a week, but he kept aloof from 
the fires, to harden, as Stimson had called it. That which was 
thus enforced by example was additionally enjoined by precept. 
Several large, hulking, idle fellows, who greatly loved the fire, 
were driven away from it by shame ; and the heat was allowed 
to diffuse itself more equally through the building. 

Any one who has ever had occasion to be a witness of the 
effect of the water-cure process in enabling even delicate women 
to resist cold and damp, may form some notion of the great im- 
provement that was made among our sealers, by adopting and 
rigidly adhering to Stimson’s cold-water and no-fire system. 
Those who had shivered at the very thoughts of ice-water, soon 
dabbled in it like young ducks ; and there was scarcely an hour 
in the day when the half-hogshead, that was used as a bath, 
had not its tenant. This tub was placed on the ice of the cove, 
with a tent over it ; and a well was made through which the 
water was drawn. Of course, the axe was in great request, a 
new hole being required each morning, and sometimes two or 
three times in the course of the day. The effect of these ablu- 


THE SEA LIONS. 


S77 


tions was very soon apparent. The men began to throw aside 
their pee-jackets, and worked in their ordinary clothing, which 
was warm and suited to a high latitude, with a spirit and vigor 
at which they were themselves surprised. The fire in the cam- 
boose sufficed as yet ; and, at evening, the pee-jacket, with the 
shelter of the building, the crowded rooms, and the warm 
meals, for a long time enabled them to get on without consum- 
ing any thing in the largest stove. Stimson’s plans for the 
protection of the hut, moreover, soon began to tell. The skins, 
sails, and much of the rigging, were brought over from the 
wreck ; by means of the carts, so long as there was no snow, 
and by means of sledges when the snow fell and rendered 
wheeling diflScult. Luckily, the position of the road along the 
rocks caused the upper snow to melt a little at noon-day, while 
it froze again, firmer and firmer, each night. The crust soon 
bore, and it was found that the sledges furnished even better 
means of transportation than the wheels. 

There was a little controversy about the use of the skins, 
Daggett continuing to regard them as cargo. Necessity and 
numbers prevailed in the end, and the whole building was lined 
with them, four or five deep, by placing them inside of beckets 
made of the smaller rigging. By stuffing these skins com- 
pactly, within ropes so placed as to keep all snug, a very ma- 
terial defence against the entrance of cold was interposed. But 
this was not all. Inside of the skins Stimson got up hangings 
of canvas, using the sails of the wreck for that purpose. It was 
not necessary to cut these sails — Daggett would not have suf- 
fered it — but they were suspended, and cramped into openings, 
and otherwise so arranged as completely to conceal and shelter 
every side, as well as the ceilings of both rooms. Portions 
were fitted with such address as to fall before the windows, to 
which they formed very warm if not very ornamental curtains. 
Stephen, however, induced Boswell to order outside shutters to 
be made and hung ; maintaining that one such shutter would 
soon count as a dozen cords of wood. 


378 


THE SEA LIONS. 


Much of the wood, too, was brought over from the wreck ; 
and that which had been carelessly abandoned on the rocks was 
all collected and piled carefully and conveniently near the 
outer door of the hut ; which door, by the way, looked inward, 
or towards the rocks in the rear of the building, where it opened 
on a sort of yard, that Roswell hoped to be able to keep clear 
of ice and snow throughout the winter. He might as well have 
expected to melt the glaciers of Grindewald by lighting a fire 
on the meadows at their base ! 

Stephen had another project to protect the house, and to give 
facilities for moving outside, when the winter should be at the 
hardest. In his experience at Orange Harbor, he had found 
that great inconvenience was sustained in consequence of the 
snow’s melting around the building he inhabited, which came 
from the warmth of the fire within. To avoid this, a very 
serious evil, he had spare sails of heavy canvas laid across the 
roof of the warehouse, a building of no great height, and secured 
them to the rocks below by means of anchors, hedges, and 
various other devices ; in some instances, by lashings to projec- 
tions in the clifis. Spare spars, leaning from the roof, sup- 
ported this tent-like covering, and props beneath sustained the 
spars. This arrangement was made on only two sides of the 
building, one end, and the side which looked to the north ; 
materials failing before the whole place was surrounded. The 
necessity for admitting light, too, admonished the sealers of the 
inexpediency of thus shrouding all their windows. The bottom 
of this tent was only ten feet from the side of the house, which 
gave it greater security than if it had been more horizontal, 
while it made a species of verandah in which exercise could be 
taken with greater freedom than in the rooms. Every thing 
was done to strengthen the building in all its parts that the in- 
genuity of seamen could suggest ; and particularly to prevent 
the tent-verandah from caving in. 

Stephen intimated that their situation possessed one great 
advantage, as well as disadvantage. In consequence of stand- 


THE SEA LIONS. 


379 


ing on a shelf with a lower terrace so close as to be within the 
cast of a shovel, the snow might be thrown below, and the hut 
relieved. The melted snow, too, would be apt to take the same 
direction, under the law that governs the course of all fluids. 
The disadvantage was in the barrier of rock behind the hut, 
which while it served admirably to break the piercing south 
winds, would very naturally tend to make high snow-banks in 
drifting storms. 


380 


THE SEA LIONS. 


CHAPTER XXIV. 

“ My foot on the iceberg has lighted, 

When hoarse the wild Avinds veer about; 

My eye, when the bark is benighted. 

Sees the lamp of the lighthouse go out. 

I’m the sea-bird, sea-bird, sea- bird. 

Lone looker on despair ; 

The sea-bird, sea-bird, sea-bird. 

The only witness there.” 

Brain ARD. 

Two months passed rapidly away in the excitement and 
novelty of the situation and pursuits of the men. In that time, 
all was done that the season would allow; the house being 
considered as complete, and far from uncomfortable. The 
days had rapidly lessened in length, and the nights increased 
proportionably, until the sun was visible only for a few hours 
at a time, and then merely passing low along the northern hori- 
zon. The cold increased in proportion, though the weather 
varied almost as much in that high latitude as it does in our 
own. It had ceased to thaw much, however ; and the mean of 
the thermometer was not many degrees above zero. Notwith- 
standing this low range of the mercury, the men found that 
they were fast getting acclimated, and that they could endure 
a much greater intensity of cold than they had previously sup- 
posed possible. As yet, there had been nothing to surprise 
natives of New York and New England, there rarely occurring 
a winter in which weather quite as cold as any they had yet 
experienced in the antarctic sea, does not set in, and last for 
some little time. Even while writing this very chapter of our 
legend, here in the mountains of Otsego, one of these Siberian 
visits has been paid to our valley. For the last three days the 
thermometer has ranged, at sunrise, between 17° and 22° be- 


THE SEA LIONS. 


381 


low zero ; though there is every appearance of a thaw, and we 
may have the mercury up to 40° above in the course of the 
next twenty-four hours. Men accustomed to such transitions, 
and such extreme cold, are not easily laid up or intimidated. 

A great deal of snow fell about this particular portion of the 
year ; more, indeed, than at a later period. This snow produced 
^ the greatest inconvenience ; for it soon became so deep as to 
form high banks around the house, and to fill all the customary 
haunts of the men. Still, there were places that were in a 
, great measure exempt from this white mantle. The terrace 
1 immediately below the hut, which has so often been mentioned, 
' was one of these bare spots. It was so placed as to be swept 
by both the east and the west winds, which generally cleared 
I it of every thing like snow, as fast as it fell ; and this more ef- 
i fectually than could be done by a thousand brooms. The level 
I of rock usually travelled in going to or from the wreck 
I was another of these clear places. It was a sort of shelf, too 
' narrow to admit of the snow’s banking, and too much raked by 
i the winds that commonly accompanied snow, to suffer the last 
to lodge to any great depth. Snow there was, with a hard 
,, crust, as has already been mentioned ; but it was not snow ten 
; or fifteen feet deep, as occurred in many other places. There 
were several points, however, where banks had formed, even on 
; this ledge, through which the men were compelled to cut their 
way by the use of shovels, an occupation that gave them exer- 
i cise, and contributed to keep them in health, if it was of no 
other service. It was found that the human frame could not 
endure one-half the toil, in that low state of the mercury, that 
it could bear in one a few degrees higher. 

Daggett had not, by any means, abandoned his craft, as much 
as he had permitted her to be dismantled. Every day or two 
he had some new expedient for getting the schooner off in the 
spring ; though all who heard them were perfectly convinced 
of their impracticableness. This feeling induced him to cause 
his own men to keep open the communication ; and scarce a 


382 


THE SEA LIONS. 


day passed in which he did not visit the poor unfortunate craft. 
Nor was the place without an interest of a very peculiar sort. 
It has been said that the fragments of ice, some of which were 
more than a hundred feet in diameter, and all of which were 
eight or ten feet in thickness, had been left on their edges, in- 
clining in a way to form caverns that extended a great distance. 
Now, it happened that just around the wreck the cakes were 
so distributed as to intercept the first snows which filled the 
outer passages, got to be hardened, and covered anew' by fresh 
storms, thus interposed an effectual barrier to the admission of 
any more of the frozen element within the ice. The effect was 
to form a vast range of natural galleries amid the cakes, that 
were quite clear of any snow but that which had adhered to 
their surfaces, and which offered little or no impediment to 
motion — nay, which rather aided it, by rendering the walking 
less slippery. As the deck of the schooner had been cleared, 
leaving an easy access to all its entrances, cabin, hold, and fore- 
castle, this put the Vineyard Lion under cover, while it admit- 
ted of all her accommodations being used. A portion of her 
wood had been left in her, it will be remembered, as well as 
her camboose. The last was got into the cabin, and Daggett, 
attended by two or three of his hands, would pass a good deal 
of his time there. One reason given for this distribution of the 
forces, was the greater room it allowed those who remained 
at the hut for motion. The deck of this vessel being quite 
clear, it offered a very favorable spot for exercise ; better, in 
fact, than the terrace beneath the hut, being quite sheltered 
from the winds, and much warmer than it had been originally, 
or ever since the heavy fall of snows commenced. Daggett 
paced his quarter-deck hour after hour, almost deluding him- 
self with the expectation of sailing for home as soon as the re- 
turn of summer would permit him to depart. 

Around the hut the snow early made vast embankments. 
Every one accustomed to the action of this particular condition 
of one of the great elements, will understand that a bend in the 


THE SEA LIONS. 


383 


rocks outward, or a curve inward, must necessarily affect the 
manner in which these banks were formed. The wind did not, 
by any means, blow from any one point of the compass ; 
though the southwestern cliffs might be almost termed the 
weather-side of the island, so much more frequently did the 
gales come from that quarter than from any other. The cape 
where the cove lay, and where the house had been set up, 
being at the northeastern point, and much protected by the 
high table-land in its rear, it occupied the warmest situation in 
the whole region. The winds that swept most of the north 
shore, but which, owing to a curvature in its formation, did 
not often blow home to the hut, even when they whistled 
along the terrace only a hundred feet beneath, and more 
salient, were ordinarily from the southwest outside ; though 
they got a more westerly inclination by following the land 
under the cliffs. 

A bank of snow may be either a cause of destruction or 
a source of comfort. Of course, a certain degree of cold must 
exist wherever snow is to be found ; but unless in absolute con- 
tact with the human body, it does not usually affect the system 
beyond a certain point. On the other hand, it often breaks the 
wind, and it has been known to form a covering to flocks, 
houses, &c., that has contributed essentially to their warmth. 
We incline to the opinion that if one slept in a cavern formed 
in the snow, provided he could keep himself dry, and did not 
come in absolute contact with the element, he would not find 
his quarters very uncomfortable, so long as he had sufficient 
clothing to confine the animal warmth near his person. Now, 
our sealers enjoyed some such advantage as this ; though not 
literally in the same degree. Their house was not covered with 
snow, though a vast bank was already formed quite near it, and a 
good deal had begun to pile against the tent. Singular as it may 
seem, on the east end of the building, and on the south front, 
which looked in towards the cliff next the cove, there was 
scarcely any snow at all. This was in part owing to the con- 


384 


THE SEA LIONS. 


stant use of the shovel and broom, but more so to the currents 
of air, which usually carried every thing of so light a nature as 
a flake to more quiet spots, before it was suffered to settle on 
the ground. 

Roswell early found, what his experience as an American 
might have taught him, that the melting of the snow, in conse- 
quence of the warmth of the flres, caused much more incon- 
venience than the snow itself. The latter, when dry, was easily 
got along with ; but, when melted in the day, and converted 
into icicles at night, it became a most unpleasant and not alto- 
gether a safe neighbor ; inasmuch as there was really danger 
from the sort of damp atmosphere it produced. 

The greatest ground of Roswell Gardiner’s apprehensions, 
however, was for the supply of fuel. Much of that brought 
from home had been fairly used in the camboose, and in the 
stove originally set up in the hut. Large as that stock had 
been, a very sensible inroad had been made upon it ; and, ac- 
cording to a calculation he had made, the wood regularly laid 
in would not hold out much more than half the time that it 
would be indispensable to remain on the island. This was a 
grave circumstance, and one that demanded very serious con- 
sideration. Without fuel it would be impossible to survive ; no 
hardening process being sufficient to fortify the human frame 
to a degree that would resist the influence of an antarctic 
winter. 

From the moment it was probable the party would be obliged 
to pass the winter at Sealer’s Land, therefore, Roswell had kept 
a vigilant eye on the wood. Stimson had more than once 
spoken to him on the subject, and with great prudence. 

“ Warmth must be kept among us,” said the old boat-steerer, 
“ or there will be no hope for the stoutest man in either crew. 
We’ve a pretty good stock of coffee, and that is better, any day, 
than all the rum and whiskey that was ever distilled. Good 
hot coffee of a morning will put life into us the coldest day that 
ever come out of either pole ; and they do say the south is 


THE SEA LIONS. 


385 


colder than the north, though I never could understand why it 
should be so.” 

“ You surely understand the reason why it grows warmer as 
we approach the equator, and colder as we go from it, whether 
we go north or south ?” 

Stimson assented ; though had the truth been said, he would 
have been obliged to confess that he knew no more than the 
facts. 

“ All sailors know sich things, Captain Gar’ner ; though they 
know it with very different degrees of exper’ence. But few 
get as far south as I have been, to pass a winter. A good pot 
of hot coffee of a morning will go as far as a second pee-jacket, 
if a man has to go out into the open air when the weather is at 
the hardest.” 

“Luckily, our small-stores are quite abundant, and we are 
better off for coffee and sugar than for any thing else. I laid 
in of both liberally when we were at Rio.” 

“ Yes, Rio is a good place for the articles. But coffee must 
be hot to do a fellow much good in one of these high-latitude 
w'inters ; and to be hot there must be fuel to heat it.” 

“ I am afraid the wood will not hold out much more than 
half the time we shall be here. Fortunately, we had a large 
supply ; but the other schooner was by no means as well fur- 
nished with fuel as she ought to have been for such a voyage.” 

“ Well, sir, I suppose you know what must be done next in 
such a case. Without warm food, men can no more live 
through one of these winters, than they can live without food 
at all. If the Vineyard craft has no proper fuel aboard her, we 
must make fuel of her.” 

Roswell regarded Stephen with fixed attention for some time. 
The idea was presented to his mind for the second time, and he 
greatly liked it. 

“ That might do,” he said ; “ though it will not be an easy 
matter to make Captain Daggett consent to such a thing.” 

“ Let him go two or three mornings without his warm meal 
17 


I 


386 


THE SEA LIONS. 


and hot coffee,” answered Stimson, shaking his head, “ and he 
will be glad enough to come into the scheme. A man soon 
gets willing to set fire to any thing that will burn in such a cli- 
mate. A notion has been floating about in my mind. Captain 
Gar’ner, that Tve several times thought I would mention to 
you. D’ye think, sir, any benefit could be made of that vol- 
cano over the bay, should the worst get to the worst with us ?” 

“ I have thought of the same thing, Stephen ; though I fear 
in vain. I suppose no useful heat can be given out there, until 
one gets too near the bad air to breathe it. What you say 
about breaking up the other schooner, however, is worthy of 
consideration ; and I will speak to Captain Daggett about it.” 

Roswell was as good as his word ; and the Vineyard mariner 
met the proposal as one repels an injury. Never were our 
two masters so near a serious misunderstanding, as when Ros^ 
well suggested to Daggett the expediency of breaking up the 
wreck, now that the weather was endurable, and the men could 
work with reasonable comfort and tolerable advantage. 

“ The man who ‘puts an axe or a saw into that unfortunate 
craft,” said Daggett, firmly, “ I shall regard as an enemy. It 
is a hard enough bed that she lies on, without having her ribs 
and sides torn to pieces by hands.” 

This was the strange spirit in which Daggett continued to 
look at the condition of the wreck. It was true that the ice 
prevented his actually seeing the impossibility of his ever get- 
ting his schooner into the w^ater again ; but no man at all ac- 
quainted with mechanics, and who knew the paucity of means 
that existed on the island, could for a moment entertain the idle 
expectation that seemed to have got into the Vineyard-master’s 
mind, unless subject to a species of one-idea infatuation. This 
infatuation, however, existed not only in Daggett’s mind, but in 
some degree in those of his men. It is said that “in a multi- 
tude of counsellors there is wisdom ;” and the axiom comes 
from an authority too venerable to be disputed. But it might, 
almost with equal justice, be said, that “in a multitude of 


THE SEA LIONS. 


387 


counsellors there is folly for men are quite as apt to sustain 
each other in the wrong as in the right. The individual who 
would hesitate about advancing his thllacies and mistakes with 
a single voice, does not scruple to proclaim them on the hill- 
tops, when he finds other tongues to repeat his errors. Divine 
wisdom, foreseeing this consequence of human weakness, has 
provided a church-catholic, and proceeding directly from its 
Great Head on earth, as the repository of those principles, facts, 
and laws, that it has deemed essential to the furtherance of its 
own scheme of moral government on earth ; and yet we see 
audacious imitators starting up on every side, presuming in their 
ignorance, longing in their ambition, and envious in these long- 
ings, who do not scruple to shout out upon the house-tops cru- 
dities over which knowledge wonders as it smiles, and humility 
weeps as it wonders. Such is man, when sustained by his fel- 
lows, in every interest of life ; from religion, the highest of all, 
down to the most insignificant of his temporal concerns. 

In this spirit did Daggett and his crew now feel and act. 
Roswell had early seen, with regret, that something like a feel- 
ing of party was getting up among the Vineyarders, who had 
all along regarded the better foi tune of their neighbors with an 
ill-concealed jealousy. Ever since the shipwreck, however, this 
rivalry had taken a new and even less pleasant aspect. It was 
slightly hostile, and remarks had been occasionally made that 
sounded equivocally ; as if the Vineyarders had an intention of 
separating from the other crew, and of living by themselves. 
It is probable, however, that all this was the fruit of disappoint- 
ment ; and that, at the bottom, nothing very serious was in 
contemplation. Daggett had permitted his people to aid in 
transporting most of the stores to the house ; though a consid- 
erable supply had been left in the wreck. This last arrange- 
ment was made seemingly without any hostile design, but 
rather in furtherance of a plan to pass as much time as circum- 
stances would allow, on board the stranded vessel. There was, 
in truth, a certain convenience in this scheme, that commended 


388 


THE SEA LIONS. 


it to the good sense of all. So long as any portion of the 
Vineyarders could be made comfortable in the wreck, it was 
best they should remain there ; for it saved the labor of trans- 
porting all the provisions, and made more room to circulate in 
and about the house. The necessity of putting so many casks, 
barrels, and boxes within doors, had materially circumscribed 
the limits ; and space was a great desideratum for several rea- 
sons, health in particular. 

Roswell was glad, therefore, when any of the Vineyarders 
expressed a wish to go to the wreck, and to pass a few days 
there. With a view to encourage this disposition, as well as to 
ascertain how those fared who chose that abode, he paid Dag- 
gett a visit, and passed a night or two himself in the cabin of 
the craft. This experiment told him that it was very possible 
to exist there when the thermometer stood at zero ; but, how it 
would do when ranging a great deal lower, he had his doubts. 
The cabin was small, and a very moderate fire in the camboose 
served to keep it reasonably warm ; though Daggett, at all times 
a reasonable and reasoning man, when the “ root of all evil” 
did not sorely beset him, came fully into his own views as to 
the necessity of husbanding the fuel, and of hardening the men. 
None of that close stewing over stoves, which is so common in 
America, and which causes one-half of the winter diseases of 
the climate, was tolerated in either gang. Daggett saw the 
prudence of Roswell’s, or rather of Stimson’s system, and fell 
into it freely, and with hearty good-will. It was during Gardi- 
ner’s visit to the wreck that our two masters talked over their 
plans for the winter, while taking their exercise on the schoon- 
er’s deck, each well muffled up, to prevent the frost from taking 
hold of the more exposed parts. Every one had a seal-skin 
cap, made in a way to protect the ears and most of the face ; 
and our two masters were thus provided, in common with their 
men. 

“ I suppose that we are to consider this as pleasant winter 
weather,” Roswell remarked, “ the thermometer being down only 


THE SEA LIONS. 


389 


at zero. Stimson tells me that even at Orange Harbor, the sea- 
son he was there, they paid out mercury until it all got into 
the ball. A month or two hence, we may look out for the 
I season of frosts, as the Injins call it. You will hardly think of 
1 staying out here, when the really hard weather sets in.” 

: “ I do not believe we shall feel the cold much more than we 

do now. This daily washing is a capital stove ; for I find all 
hands say that, when it is once over, they feel like new men. 
i As for me, I shall stick by my craft while there is a timber left 
in her to float !” 

Roswell thought how absurd it was to cling thus to a useless 
mass of wood, and iron, and copper ; but he said nothing on 
! that subject. 

“ I am now sorry that we took over to the house so many of 
I our supplies,” Daggett continued, after a short pause. I am 
i afraid that many of them will have to be brought back again.” 

“ That would hardly quit cost, Daggett ; it would be better 
to come over and pass the heel of the winter with us, when the 
supplies get to be short here. As we eat, we make room in the 
hut, you know ; and you will be so much the more comfortable. 
An empty pork-barrel was broken up for the camboose yester- 
day morning.” 

“We shall see — we shall see, Gar’uer. My men have got a 
notion that your people intend to break up this schooner for 
fuel, should they not keep an anchor-watch aboard her.” 

I “Anchor-watch I” repeated Roswell, smiling. “ It is well 
named — if there ever was an anchor-watch, you keep it here ; 
for no ground-tackle will ever hold like this.” 

“ We still think the schooner may be got off,” Daggett said, 
regarding his companion inquiringly. 

While the Vineyard-man had a certain distrust of his brother- 
master, he had also a high respect for his fair-dealing propen- 
sities, and a strong disposition to pat confidence in his good 
faith. The look that he now gave was, if possible, to read the real 
opinion of the other, in a countenance that seldom deceived. 


390 


THE SEA LIONS. 


“ I shall be grateful to God, Captain Daggett,” returned Ros- 
well, after a short pause, “ if we get through the long winter of 
this latitude, without burning too much of both craft, than will 
be for our good. Surely it were better to begin on that which 
is in the least serviceable condition ?” 

“ I have thought this matter over, Gardner, with all my mind, 
— have dreampt of it — slept on it — had it before me at all 
hours, and in all weathers ; and, look at it as I will, it is full of 
difficulties. Will you agree to take in a half-cargo of my skins 
and iles next season, and make in all respects a joint v’y’ge of 
it, from home, home ag’in, if we’ll consent to let this craft be 
burned ?” 

It exceeds my power to make any such bargain. I have 
an owner who looks sharply after his property, and my crew 
are upon lays, like the people of all sealers. You ask too 
much ; and you forget that, should I assume the same power 
over my own craft, as you still claim in this wreck, you might 
never find the means of getting away from the group at all. 
We are not obliged to receive you on board our schooner.” 

“ I know you think, Gar’ner, that it will be impossible for us 
ever to get our craft off ; but you overlook one thing that we 
may do — what is there to prevent our breaking her up, and of 
using the materials to make a smaller vessel ; one of sixty tons 
say — in which we might get home, besides taking most of our 
skins?” 

“ I will not say that will be impossible ; but I do say it will 
be very difficult. It would be wiser for you, in my judgment, 
to leave your cargo in the house, under the keeping of a few 
hands if you see fit, and go off with me. I will land you at 
Rio, where you can almost always find some small American 
craft to come south in, and pick up your leavings. If you 
choose that the men left behind should amuse themselves iii 
your absence, by building a small craft, I am certain they will 
meet with no opposition from me. There is but one place 
where a vessel can be launched, and that is the spot in the cove 


THE SEA LIONS. 


391 


j where we beached your schooner. There it might possibly be 
! done, though I think not without a great deal of trouble, and 
li possibly not without more means than are to be picked up along 
shore in this group. But there is a very important fact that 
' you overlook, Daggett, which it may be as well to mention 
: here, as to delay it. Your craft, or mme, must be used as fuel 
!' this winter, or we shall freeze to death to a man. I have made 
1 the calculations closely ; and, certain as our existence, there is 
i no alternative between such a death and the use of the fuel I 
5 have mentioned.” 

“Not a timber of mine shall be touched. I do not believe 
, one-half of these stories about the antarctic winter, which can- 
not be much worse than what a body meets with up in the Bay 
of Fundy.” 

“A winter in the Bay of Fundy, without fuel, must be bad 
enough : but it is a mere circumstance to one here. I should 
think that a man who has tasted an antarctic summer and 
autumn^ must get a pretty lively notion of what is to come 
after them.” 

“ The men can keep in their berths much of the time, and 
save wood. There are many other ways of getting through a 
winter than burning a vessel. I shall never consent to a stick 
of this good craft’s going into the galley-fire as long as I can 
see my way clear to prevent it. I would burn cargo before I 
would burn my cra/f.” 

Roswell wondered at this pertinacity ; but he trusted to the 
pressure of the coming season, and changed the subject. Cer- 
tainly the thought of breaking up his own craft did not cross 
his mind \ though he could see no sufficient objection to the 
other side of the proposition. As discussion was useless, liow- 
I ever, he continued to converse with Daggett on various practi- 
? cal subjects, on which his companion was rational and disposed 
wto learn. 

Ar It had been ascertained by experiment that the water, at a 
Ifednsiderable depth, was essentially warmer beneath the ice, than 


892 


THE SEA LIONS. 


at its surface. A plan had been devised by which the lower 
currents of the water could be pumped up for the purposes of 
the bath ; thus rendering the process far more tolerable than it 
had previously been. Bathing in extremely cold weather, 
however, is not so formidable a thing as is generally supposed, 
the air being at a lower temperature than the water. As the 
greatest importance was attached to these daily ablutions, the 
subject was gone over between the two masters in all its bear- 
ings. There were no conveniences for the operation at the 
wreck ; and this was one reason why Roswell suggested that a 
residence there ought to be abandoned. Daggett dissented, and 
invited his companion to take a walk in his caverns. 

A promenade in a succession of caves formed of ice, with 
the thermometer at zero, would naturally strike one as a some- 
what chilling amusement. Gardiner did not find it so. He 
was quite protected from the wind, which gives so much pun- 
gency to bitter cold, rendering it insupportable. Completely 
protected from this, and warmed by the exertion of clambering 
among the cakes, Roswell’s blood was soon in a healthful glow ; 
and, to own the truth, when he left the wreck, it was with a 
much better opinion of it, as a place of residence, than when 
he had arrived to pay his visit. 

As there was now nothing for the men to do in the way of 
preparation, modes of amusement were devised that might 
unite activity of body with that of the mind. The snows 
ceased to fall, as the season advanced ; and there were but few 
places on which heavy burdens might not have been trans- 
ported over their crusts. It was, indeed, easier moving about 
on the surface of the frozen snow than it had been on the 
naked rocks ; the latter offering obstacles that no longer 
showed themselves. Sliding down the declivities, and even 
skating, were practised ; few northern Americans being igno- 
rant of the latter art. Various other sources of amusement were 
resorted to ; but it was found, generally, that very little exer- 
cise in the open air exhausted the frame, and that a great diffi- 


! 


THE SEA LIONS. 


393 


culty of breathing occurred. Still, it was thought necessary to 
) health that the men should remain as much as possible out of 
I the crowded house ; and various projects were adopted to keep 
[ up the vital warmth while exposed. Ere the month of July 
j had passed, which corresponds to our January, it had been 
' found expedient to make dresses of skins, for which fortunately 
I the materials abounded. 

As the season advanced, the idea of preserving more than 
the lives of his men was gradually abandoned by Gardiner; 

: though Daggett still clung to his wreck, and actually had 
i wood transported back to it, that he might stay as much as 
f possible near his property. There was no longer any thawing, 
though there were very material gradations in the intensity of 
! the frosts. Occasionally, it was quite possible to remain in the 
; open air an hour or two at a time ; then, again, there were 
i days in which it exceeded the powers of human endurance to 
'( remain more than a few minutes removed to any distance from 
' heat artificially procured. On the whole, however, it was 
' found that the comparatively moderate weather predominated ; 
i and it was rare, indeed, that all the people did not pursue their 
I avocations and amusements outside, at what was called the 
middle of the day. 

And what a meridian it was ! The shortest day had passed 
some time, when Roswell and Stimson were walking together 
on the terrace, then, as usual, as clear from snow as if 
swept by a broom ; but otherwise wearing the aspect of in- 
terminable winter, in common with all around it. They were 
conversing as had been much their wont of late, and were 
watching the passage of the sun as he stole along the north- 
ern horizon ; even at high noon rising but a very few degrees 
above it ! 

“ It has a cold look, sir, but it does give out some heat,’^ said 
Stephen, as he faced the luminary in one of his turns. “ I can 
feel a little warmth from it just now, sheltered as we are here 
under the cliffs, and with a background of naked rock to 


394 


THE SEA LIONS. 


throw back what reaches us. To me, all these changes in the 
movements of the sun seem very strange, Captain Gar’ner ; but 
I know I am ignorant, and that others may well know all 
about what I do not understand.” 

Here Gardiner undertook to explain the phenomena that 
have been slightly treated on in our own pages. There are 
few Americans so ignorant as not to be fully aware that the 
sun has no sensible motion, or any motion that has an apparent 
influence on our own planet; but fewer still clearly compre- 
hend the reasons of those very changes that are occurring 
constantly before their eyes. We cannot say that Captain 
Gardiner succeeded very well in his undertaking, though he im- 
printed on the old boat-steerer’s mind the fact that the sun 
would not be seen at all were they only a few degrees further 
south than they actually were. 

“ And now, sir, I suppose he’ll get higher and higher every 
day,” put in Stephen, “until he comes quite up above our 
heads ?” 

“Not exactly that at noon; though abeam, as it might be, 
mornings and evenings.” 

“ Still, the coldest of our weather is yet to come, or I have 
no exper’ence in such things. Why does not the heat come 
back with the sun — or what seems to be the sun coming back? 
though, as you tell me. Captain Gar’ner, it’s only the ’arth sheer- 
ing this-a-way and that-a-way in her course.” 

“One may well ask such a question — but cold produces 
cold, and it takes time to wear it out. February is commonly 
the coldest month in the year, even in America ; though days 
occur in other months that may be colder than any one in 
February. March, and even April, are months I dread here ; 
and that so much the more, Stephen, because our fuel goes a 
good deal faster than I could wish.” 

“ What you say is very true, sir. Still, the people must have 
fire. I turned out this morning, while all hands w'ere still in 
their berths, and looked to the stove, and it was as much as 


THE SEA LIONS. 


395 


human natur’ could bear to be about without my cap and skin- 
covering, though in-doors the whole time. If the weather goes 
on as it has begun, we shall have to keep a watch at the stove ; 
nor do I think one stove will answer us much longer. We 
shall want another in the sleeping-room.” 

“ Heaven knows where the wood is to come from ! Unless 
Captain Daggett gives up the wreck, we shall certainly be out 
long before the mild season returns.” 

“ We must keep ourselves warm, sir, by reading the Bible,” 
answered Stimson, smiling ; though the glance he cast at his 
officer was earnest and anxious. “ You must not forget. Captain 
Gar’ner, that you’ve promised one who is praying for you daily 
to go through the chapters she has marked, and give the 
matter a patient and attentive thought. No sealin’, sir, can be 
I half so important as this reading of the good book in the right 
spirit.” 

“ So you believe that Jesus was the Son of God !” ex- 
claimed Roswell, half inquiringly, and half in a modified sort of 
levity. 

! “ As much as I believe that we are here, sir. I wish I was 

I half as certain of ever getting away.” 

' “ What has caused you to believe this, Stimson ? — reason, or 

the talk of your mother and of the parson ?” 
i “ My mother died afore I could listen to her talk, sir ; and 
I very little have I had to do with parsons, for the want of being 
[ where they are to be found. Faith tells me to believe this ; and 
I Faith comes from God.” 

“And I could believe it, too, were Faith imparted to me 
; from the same source. As it is, I fear I shall never believe in 
! what appears to me to be an impossibility.” 

I Then followed a long discussion, in which ingenuity, consider- 
I able command of language, human pride, and worldly senti- 
1 ments, contended with that clear, intuitive, deep conviction 
: which it is the pleasure of the Deity often to bestow on those 
i who would otherwise seem to be unfitted to become the reposi- 


396 


THE SEA LIONS. 


tories of so great a gift. As we shall have to deal with this 
part of our subject more particularly hereafter, we shall not 
enlarge on it here ; but pursue the narrative as it is connected 
with the advance of the season, and the influence the latter 
exerted over the whole party of the lost sealers. 




THE SEA LIONS. 


391 


CHAPTER XXV. 

“ Beyond the Jewish ruler, banded close, 

A company full glorious, I saw * 

The twelve apostles stand. Oh, with what looks 
Of ravishment and joy, what rapturous tears. 

What hearts of ecstasy, they gazed again 
On their beloved Master” 

Hillhotjse’s Judgment. 

It has become necessary to advance the season to the begin- 
ning of the month of October, which corresponds to our own 
April, In a temperate climate this would mark the opening 
of spring ; and the reviving hopes of a new and genial season 
would find a place in every bosom. Not so at Sealer’s Land. 
So long as the winter was at its height, and the clear, steady 
cold continued, by falling into a system so prepared as to 
meet the wants of such a region, matters had gone on regularly, 
if not Avith comfort ; and, as yet, the personal disasters were 
confined to a few frozen cheeks and noses, the results of care- 
lessness and wanton exposure, rather than of absolute necessity. 
But one who had seen the place in July, and who examined it 
now, Avould find many marks of change, not to say of de- 
terioration. 

In the first place, a vast deal of snow had fallen ; fallen, in- 
deed, to such a degree, as even to cover the terrace, block up 
the path that communicated with the wreck, and nearly to 
smother the house and all around it. The winds were high 
and piercing, rendering the cold doubly penetrating. The 
thermometer now varied essentially, sometimes rising consider- 
ably above zero, though often er falling far below it. There had 
been many storms in September, and October was opening 
with a most blustering and wintery aspect. In one sense, how- 


398 


THE SEA LIONS. 


ever, the character of the season had changed : the dry, equal 
cold, that was generally supportable, having been succeeded 
by tempests that were sometimes a little moist, but oftener of 
intense frigidity. Of course the equinox was past, and there 
were more than twelve hours of sun. The great luminary 
showed himself well above the northern horizon ; and though 
his circuit described an arc that did not promise soon to 
bring him near the zenith at meridian, it was a circuit that 
seemed about to inclose Sealer’s Land, by carrying the orb of 
day so far south, morning and evening, as to give it an air of 
travelling round the spot. 

These changes had not occurred without suffering and dan- 
ger. Enormous icicles were suspended from the roof of the 
house, reaching to the ground, the third and fourth successions 
of these signs of heat and cold united, the earlier formations 
having been knocked down and thrown away. Mountains of 
drifted snow were to be seen in places, all along the shore ; 
and wreaths that threatened fearful avalanches were suspended 
from the cliffs, waiting only for the increase of the warmth, to 
come down upon the rocks beneath. Once already had one of 
these masses fallen on the wreck ; and the Oyster Pond men 
had been busy for a week digging into the pile, in order to go 
to the rescue of the Vineyarders. There was much generosity 
and charitable feeling displayed in this act ; for, owing to the 
obstinate adherence of Daggett and his people to what they 
deemed their rights, Roswell had finally been compelled to cut 
to pieces the upper works of his own schooner to obtain fuel 
that might prevent his own party from freezing to death. The 
position of the Sea Lion of Oyster Pond was to be traced only 
by a high mound of snow, which had been arrested by the ob- 
stacle she presented to its drift ; but her bulwarks, planks, deck, 
top-timbers, stern-frame — in short, nearly all of the vessel above 
water, had actually been taken to pieces, and carried within 
the covering of the verandah mentioned, in readiness for the 
stoves ! 


THE SEA LIONS. 


399 


To render the obstinacy of the other crew more apparent, 
Daggett had been obliged to do the same ! Much of his be- 
loved craft had already disappeared in the camboose, and more 
was likely to follow. This compelled destruction, however, 
rather increased than lessened his pertinacity. He clung to the 
last chip ; and no terms of compromise would he now listen to 
at all. The stranded wreck was his, and his people’s 5 while 
the other wreck belonged to the men from Oyster Pond. Let 
each party act for itself, and take care of its own. Such were 
his expressed opinions, and* on them he acted. 

This state of things had not been brought about in a day. 
Months had passed ; Roswell had seen his last billet of wood 
put in the camboose ; had tried various experiments for produ- 
cing heat by means of oil, which so far succeeded as to enable 
the ordinary boiling to be done, thereby saving wood ; but, 
when a cold turn set in, it was quickly found that the schooner 
must go, or all hands perish. When this decree went forth, 
every one understood that the final preservation of the party 
depended on that of the boats. For one entire day the question 
had been up in general council, whether or not the two whale- 
boats should be burnt, with their oars and appurtenances, before 
the attack was made on the schooner itself. Stimson settled 
this point, as he did so many others, Roswell listening to all he 
said with a constantly increasing attention. 

“ If we burn the boats first,” said the boat-steerer, “ and then 
have to come to the schooner a’ter all, how are we ever to get 
away from this group ? Them boats wouldn’t last us a week, 
even in our best weather ; but they may answer to take us to 
some Christian land, when every rib and splinter of the Sea 
Lion is turned into ashes. I would begin on the upper works 
of the schooner first. Captain Gar’ner, resarvin’ the spars, though 
they would burn the freest. Then I would saw away the top- 
timbers, beams, decks, transoms, and every thing down within a 
foot of the water ; but I wouldn’t touch any thing below the 
copper, for this here reason : unless Captain Daggett sets to 


400 


THE SEA LIONS. 


work on his craft and burns her up altogether, we may find ma- 
ter’als enough in the spring to deck over ag’in the poor thing 
down there in the cove, and fit her out a’ter a fashion, and make 
much better weather of it in her than in our boats. That’s my 
opinion, sir.” 

It was decided that this line of conduct should be pursued. 
The upper works of the schooner were all taken out of her as 
soon as the weather permitted, and the wood was carried up 
and stored in the house. Even with this supply, it was soon 
seen that great economy was to be used, and that there might 
be the necessity of getting at the vessel’s bottom. As for the 
schooner, as the people still affectionately called the hull, or 
what was left of the hull, every thing had been taken out of 
her. The frozen oil was carried up to the house in chunks, and 
used for fuel and lights. A good deal of heat was obtained by 
making large wicks of canvas, and placing them in vessels that 
contained oil ; though it was very far from sufficing to keep 
life in the men during the hardest of the weather. The utmost 
economy in the use of the fuel that had been so dearly ob- 
tained, was still deemed all-essential to eventual preservation. 
Happily, the season advanced all this time, and the month of 
October was reached. The intercourse between the crews had 
by no means been great dming the two solemn and critical 
months that were just passed. A few visits had been exchanged 
at noon-day, and when the thermometer was a little above zero ; 
but the snow was filling the path, and as yet there were no 
thaws to produce a crust on which the men might walk. 

About a month previously to the precise time to which it is 
our intention now to advance the more regular action of the 
legend, Macy had come over to the house, attended by one 
man, with a proposal on the part of Daggett for the two crews 
to occupy his craft, as he still persisted in calling the wreck, 
and of using the house as fuel. This was previously to begin- 
ning to break up either vessel. Gardiner had thought of this 
plan in connection with his own schooner, a scheme that would 


THE SEA LIONS. 


401 


have been much more feasible than that now proposed, on ac- 
count of the difference in distance ; but it had soon been aban- 
doned. All the material of the building was of pine, and that 
well seasoned ; a wood that burns like tinder. No doubt there 
would have been a tolerably comfortable fortnight or three 
weeks by making these sacrifices ; then would have come cer- 
tain destruction. 

As to the proposal of Daggett, there were many objections 
to it. A want of room would be one ; want of provisions 
another ; and there would be the necessity of transporting 
stores, bedding, and a hundred things that were almost as ne- 
cessary to the people as warmth ; and which indeed contributed 
largely to their warmth. In addition was the objection just 
mentioned, of the insufficiency of the materials of the building ; 
an objection which was just as applicable to a residence in one 
vessel as a residence in the other. Of c6urse the proposition 
was declined. 

Macy remained a night with the Oyster Ponders, and left 
! the house after breakfast next morning ; knowing that Daggett 
J only waited for his return with a negative, to commence break- 
ji ing up the wreck. The mate was attended by the seaman, re- 
I turning as he had arrived. Two days later, there having been 
i a slight yielding of the snow under the warmth of the noon- 
! day sun, and a consequent hardening of its crust in the succeed- 
ing night, Roswell and Stimson undertook to return this visit, 

I with a view to make a last effort to persuade Daggett to quit 
! the wreck and come over to the house altogether. When they 
. had got about half-way between the two places, they found the 
body of the seaman, stiff, frozen, hard, and dead. A quarter of 
If a mile further on, the reckless Macy, who it was supposed 
I': greatly sustained Daggett in his obstinacy, was found in pre- 
t cisely the same state. Both had fallen in the path, and stiffened 
under the terrible power of the climate. It was not without 
; difficulty that Roswell reached the wreck, and reported what he 
j had seen. Even this terrible admonition did not change Dag- 


402 


THE SEA LIONS. 


gett’s purpose. He had begun to burn his vessel, for there was 
now no alternative ; but he was doing it on a system which, as 
he explained it to Roswell, was not only to leave him materials 
with which to construct a smaller craft in the spring, but which 
would allow of his inhabiting the steerage and cabin as long as 
he pleased. 

In some respects the wreck certainly had its advantages 
over the house. There was more room for exercise, the caverns 
of the ice being extensive, while they completely excluded the 
wind, which was now the great danger of the season. It was 
doubtless owing to the wind that Macy and his companion had 
perished. As the spring approached, these winds increased in 
violence ; though there had been slight symptoms of their 
coming more blandly, even at the time when their colder cur- 
rents were really frightful. 

A whole month Succeeded this visit of Roswell’s, during 
which there was no intercourse. It was September, the March 
of the antarctic circle, and the weather had been terrific during 
most of the period. It was during these terrible four weeks 
that Roswell completed his examination of the all-important 
subject Mary had marked out for him, and which Stimson had 
so earnestly and so often placed before his mind. The sudden 
fate of Macy and his companion, the condition of his crew, and 
all the serious circumstances with which he was surrounded, 
conspired to predispose him to inquiry ; and what was equally 
important in such an investigation, to humility. Man is a very 
different being in high prosperity from what he becomes when 
the blows of an evil fortune, or the visitations of Divine Prov- 
idence, alight upon him. The skepticism of Roswell was more 
the result of human pride, of confidence in himself, than of any 
precept derived from others, or of any deep reasoning process 
whatever. He conceived that the theory of the incarnation of 
the Son of God was opposed to philosophy and experience, it is 
true ; and, thus far, he may be said to have reasoned in the 
matter, though it was in his own way, and with a very con- 


THE SEA LIONS. 


403 


tracted view of the subject ; but pride had much more to do 
with even this conclusion, than a knowledge of physics or phi- 
losophy. It did not comport with the respect he entertained 
for his own powers, to lend his faith to an account that con- 
flicted with so many of the opinions he had formed on evidence 
and practice. Credulous women might have their convictions 
on the truth of this history, but it was not necessary for men 
to be as easily duped. There was something even amiable and 
attractive in this weakness of the other sex, that would ill com- 
port, however, with the greater sternness of masculine judg- 
ment. Roswell, as he once told Stimson, hesitated to believe 
in any thing that he could not comprehend. His God must be 
worshipped for the obvious truth of his attributes and existence. 
He wished to speak with respect of things that so many worthy 
people reverenced; but he could not forget that Providence 
had made him a reasoning creature ; and his reason must be 
convinced. Stephen was no great logician, as the reader will 
easily understand ; but Newton possessed no clearer demonstra- 
tion of any of his problems than this simple, nay ignorant, 
man enjoyed in his religious faith, through the divine illumina- 
tion it had received in the visit of the Holy Spirit. 

That gloomy month, however, had not been thrown away. 
All the men were disposed to be serious ; and the reading of 
the Bible, openly and aloud, soon became a favorite occupation 
with every one of them. Although Roswell’s reading was di- 
rected by the marks of Mary, all of which had reference to 
those pages that touched on the divinity of the Saviour, he 
made no comments that betrayed his incredulity. There is a 
simple earnestness in the narrative portions of the Gospel that 
commends its truth to every mind, and it had its effect on that 
of Roswell Gardiner ; though it failed to remove doubts that 
had so long been cherished, and which had their existence in 
pride of reason, or what passes for such, with those who merely 
skim the surface of things, as they seem to exist around them. 

On the evening of that particular day in October, to which 


404 


THE SEA LIONS. 


we desire now to advance tlie time, and after the most pleasant 
and cheerful afternoon and sunset that any on the island had 
seen for many months, Roswell and Stirason ventured to con- 
tinue their exercise on the terrace, then again clear of impedi- 
ments, even after the day had closed. The night promised to 
be cold, but the weather was not yet so keen as to drive them 
to a shelter. Both fancied there was a feeling of spring in the 
wind, which was from the northeast, a quarter that brought the 
blandest currents of air into those seas, if any air of that re- 
gion deserved such a term at all. 

“It is high time we had some communications with the 
Vineyarders,” said Roswell, as they turned at that end of the 
terrace which was nearest to the wreck. “A full month has 
passed since we have seen any of them, or have heard a sylla- 
ble of their doings or welfire.” 

“ It’s a bad business this separation, Captain Gar’ner,” re- 
turned the boat-steerer ; “and every hour makes it worse. 
Think how much good might have been done them young men 
had they only been with us while we’ve been reading the book 
of books, night and niorning, sir !” 

“ That good book seems to fill most of your thoughts, Ste- 
phen — I wish I could have your faith.” 

“ It will come in time, sir, if you will only strive for it. I’m 
sure no heart could have been harder than mine was, until 
within the last five years. I was far worse as a Christian, Cap- 
tain Gar’ner, than I consider you to be ; for while you have 
doubts consarning the divinity of our Blessed Lord, I had no 
thought of any one of the Trinity. My only God was the 
world ; and sich a world, too, as a poor sailor knows. It was 
being but little better than the brutes.” 

“ Of all the men with me, you seem to be the most contented 
and happy. I cannot say I have seen even a sign of fear about 
you, when things have been at the worst.” 

“ It would be very ungrateful, sir, to mistrust a Providence 
that has done so much for me.” 


THE SEA LIONS. 


405 


“ I devoutly wish I could believe with you that Jesus was 
the Son of God !” 

“ Excuse me, Captain Gar’ner ; it’s jist because you do not 
devoutly wish this, that you do not believe. I think I under- 
stand the natur of your feelin’s, sir. I had some sich once, 
myself ; though it was only in a small way. I was too igno- 
rant to feel much pride in my own judgment, and soon gave up 
every notion that went ag’in Scriptur’. I own it is not accor- 
din’ to natur’, as we know natur’, to believe in this doctrine ; 
but we know too little of a thousand things to set up our weak 
judgments in the very face of revelation.” 

“ I am quite willing to believe all I can understand, Stephen ; 
but I find it difi&cult to credit accounts that are irreconcilable 
with all that my experience has taught me to be true.” 

“ They who are of your way of thinkin’, sir, do not deny 
that Christ was a good man and a prophet ; and that the 
apostles were good men and prophets ; and that they all worked 
miracles.” 

“ This much I am willing enough to believe ; but the other 
doctrine seems contrary to what is possible.” 

“Yet you have seen, sir, that these apostles believed what 
you refuse. One thing has crossed my mind, Captain Gar’ner, 
which I wish to say to you. I know I’m but an ignorant man, 
and my idees may be hardly worth your notice ; but sich as 
they be, I want to lay ’em afore you. We are told that these 
apostles were all men from a humble class in life, with little 
I’arnin’, chosen, as it might be, to show men that faith stood in 
need of no riches, or edication, or worldly greatness of any 
sort. To me, sir, there is a wholesome idee in that one thing.” 

“ It gives us all a useful lesson, Stephen, and has often been 
mentioned, I believe, in connection with the doctrines of 
Christianity.” 

“ Yes, sir— so I should think ; though I don’t remember ever 
to have heard it named from any pulpit. Well, Captain Gar’- 
ner, it does not agree with our notions to suppose that God 


406 


THE SEA LIONS. 


himself, a part of the Ruler and Master of the Universe, should 
be born of a woman, and come among sinners in order to save 
’em from his own just judgments.” 

“ That is just the difficulty that I have in believing what are 
called the dogmas of Christianity on that one point. To me, it 
has ever seemed the most improbable thing in the ■world.” 

“ Just so, sir — I had some sort of feelin’ of that natur’ my- 
self once. When God, in his goodness, put it into my heart to 
believe, however, as he was pleased to do in a fit of sickness 
from which I never expected to rise, and in which I was led to 
pray to him for assistance, I began to think over all these mat- 
ters in my own foolish manner. Among other things, I said to 
myself, ‘is it likely that any mortal man would dream of call- 
ing Christ the Son of God, unless it was put into his mind to 
say so V Then comes the characters of them men, who all 
admit were upright and religious. How can we suppose that 
they would agree in giving the same account of sich a thing, 
unless what they said had been told to them by some tongue 
that they believed ?” 

Roswell smiled at Stephen’s reasoning, which was not without 
a certain point, but which an ingenious man might find the 
means of answering in various ways. 

“There is another thing, sir, that I’ve read in a book,” re- 
sumed the boat-steerer, “ which goes a great way with me. 
Jesus allowed othei-s to call him the Son of God, without re- 
buking them for doing so. It does really seem that they who 
believe he was a good man, as I understand is the case with 
you. Captain Gar’ner, must consider this as a strong fact. We 
are to remember what a sin idolatry is ; how much all ra’al 
worshippers abhor it ; and then set that feelin’ side by side with 
the fact that the Son did not think it robbery to be called the 
equal of the Father. To me that looks like a proof that our 
belief has a solid foundation.” 

Roswell did not reply. He was aware that it would not be 
just to hold any creed responsible for the manner in which a 


THE SEA LIONS. 


407 


person like Stimson defended it. Still, lie was struck with both 
of this man’s facts. The last, he had often met in books ; but 
the first was new to him. Of the two, this novel idea of the 
improbability of the apostles inventing that which would seem 
to be opposed to all men’s notions and prejudices, struck him 
more forcibly than the argument adduced from the acqui- 
escence of the Redeemer in his own divinity. The last might 
be subject to verbal criticism, and could possibly be explained 
away, as he imagined ; but the first appeared to be intimately 
incorporated with the entire history of Christ’s ministrations 
on earth. These were the declarations of John the Baptist, the 
simple and unpretending histories of the Gospels, the commen- 
taries of St. Paul, and the venerable teachings of the Church 
through so many centuries of varying degrees of faith and con- 
tention, each and all going to corroborate a doctrine that, in his 
eyes, had appeared to be so repugnant to philosophy and rea- 
son. Wishing to be alone, Roswell gave an order to Stimson 
to execute some duty that fell to his share, and continued 
walking up and down the terrace alone for quite an hour 
longer. 

The night was coming in cold and still. It was one of those 
last efforts of winter in which all the terrible force of the season 
was concentrated ; and it really appeared as if nature, wearied 
with its struggle to return to a more genial temperature, yielded 
in despair, and was literally returning backwards through the 
coldest of her months. The moon was young, but the stars 
gave forth a brightness that is rarely seen, except in the clear 
cold nights of a high latitude. Each and all of these sublime 
emblems of the power of God were twinkling like bright torches 
glowing in space ; and the mind had only to endow each with 
its probable or known dimensions, its conjectural and reason- 
able uses, to form a picture of the truest sublimity in which man 
is made to occupy his real position. In this world, where, in a 
certain sense, he is master ; where all things are apparently un- 
der his influence, if not absolutely subject to his control ; where 


408 


THE SEA LIONS. 


little that is distinctly visible is to be met with that does seem 
to be created to meet his wants, or to be wholly at his disposal, 
one gets a mistaken and frequently a fatal notion of his true 
place in the scale of the beings who are intended to throng 
around the footstool of the Almighty. As the animalculse of 
the atmospheric air bear a proportion to things visible, so would 
this throng seem to bear a proportion to our vague estimates of 
the spiritual hosts. All this Roswell was very capable of feel- 
ing, and in some measure of appreciating ; and never before had 
he been made so conscious of his own insignificance, as he be- 
came while looking on the firmament that night, glowing with 
its bright worlds and suns, doubtless the centres of other sys- 
tems in which distance swallowed up the lesser orbs. 

Almost every one has heard or read of that collection of stars 
which goes by the name of the Southern Cross. The resem- 
blance to the tree on which Christ suffered is not particularly 
striking, though all who navigate the southern hemisphere 
know it, and recognize it by its imputed appellation. It now 
attracted Roswell’s gaze ; and coming as it did after so much 
reading, so many conversations with Stephen, and addressing 
itself to one whose heart was softened by the fearful circum- 
stances that had so long environed the sealers, it is not sur- 
prising that it brought our young master to meditate seriously 
on his true condition in connection with the atonement that he 
was willing to admit had been made for him, in common with 
all of earth, at the very moment he hesitated to believe that the 
sufferer was, in any other than a metaphorical sense, the Son 
of God. 

It is not our intention to describe more of the religious feel- 
ings of Mary and her suitor, or to enter farther into any disqui- 
sition on subjects of this nature, than may be absolutely neces- 
sary to elucidate the facts of our history. In order to do the 
last distinctly, however, we shall endeavor to make a very brief 
analysis of the process of reasoning, and we may add of feel- 
ing too, that was at work in Roswell Gardiner’s mind and 


THE SEA LIONS. 


409 


heart, as he paced the terrace that night, after Stimson had 
left him. 

^\e suppose that a sense of humility is the first healthful 
symptom that shows itself in every man’s moral regeneration. 
A meek appreciation of his own station and character disposes 
him to receive revelation with respect, and to have faith in 
things that are not seen. Perhaps no one over whom the 
sword of fate was not actually suspended by a hair, was ever 
better placed to admit the lessons of humility than was Roswell 
Gardiner at that very moment. Modest he always was, in the 
ordinary acceptation of the teiin, and this without professions 
or grimaces ; but he had a high idea of the human understand- 
ing, and revolted at believing that which did violence to all his 
experience and preconceived opinions. This was the weak spot 
in his ' character, which time, with an increasing knowledge of 
men and things, or some merciful teaching of Divine Provi- 
dence, could alone remove. 

Roswell certainly did not converse with Stimson in the ex- 
pectation of being much instructed ; but the humble and un- 
educated boat-steerer had been at a school that raises the dullest 
intellect far above all the inferences of philosophy. He had 
faith, without which no man is truly wise ; no man learned, in 
the highest interest of his being. Under the guidance of this 
leader, Stephen occasionally threw out an idea that struck the 
mind of his officer by its simplicity and force, and helped to 
complete that change for which circumstances, reading, and re- 
flection had now been many months preparing the way. The 
day preceding this walk on the terrace, Roswell observed to 
Stimson that he had diflSculty in believing in a Deity he could 
not comprehend ; meaning merely that his reason must be sat- 
isfied in a doctrine like that of the incarnation. 

“ Well, sir, that’s not my feelin’,” answered Stephen, earn- 
estly. “ A Deity I could understand would be no God for me. 
Where there is the same knowledge, there is too much com- 
panionship, like, for worship and reverence.” 

18 


410 


THE SEA LIONS. 


“ But we are told that man was created after the image of 
God.” 

“ In his likeness, Captain Gar’ner — with some ot the Divine 
Spirit, blit not with all. That makes him different from the 
brutes, and immortal. I have convarsed with a clergyman who 
thinks that the angels, and archangels, and other heavenly be- 
ings, are far before even the saints in heaven, such as have been 
only men on ’arth.” 

The idea of not having a Deity that he could not compre- 
hend, had long been one of Roswell Gardiner’s favorite rules of 
faith. He did not understand by this pretending dogma, that 
he was, in any respect, of capacity equal to comprehend with 
that of the Divine Being, but simply that he was not to be ex- 
pected or required to believe in any theory which manifestly 
conflicted with his knowledge and experience, as both were 
controlled by the powers of induction he had derived directly 
from his Creator. In a word, his exception was one of the most 
obvious of the suggestions of the pride of reason, and just so 
much in direct opposition to the great law of regeneration, 
which has its very gist in the converse of this feeling — Faith. 

As our young master paced the terrace alone, that idea of the 
necessity of the Creator’s being incomprehensible to the cre- 
ated, recurred to him. The hour that succeeded was probably 
the most ipiportant in Roswell Gardiner’s life. So intense were 
his feelings, so active the workings of his mind, that he was 
quite insensible to the intensity of the cold ; and his body keep- 
ing equal motion with his thoughts, if one may so express it, 
his frame actually set at defiance a temperature that might 
otherwise have chilled it, warmly and carefully as it was clad. 

Truly there were many causes existing at that time and 
place, to bring any man to a just sense of his real position in 
the scale of created beings. The vault above Roswell was 
sparkling with orbs floating in space, most of them far more 
vast than this earth, and each of them doubtless having its pres- 
ent or destined use. What was that light, so brilliant and per- 


THE SEA LIONS. 


411 


vading throughout space, that converted each of those masses 
of dark matter into globes clothed with a glorious brightness ? 
Roswell had seen chemical experiments that produced wonder- 
ful illuminations ; but faint, indeed, were the most glowing of 
those artificial torches, to the fioods of light that came stream- 
ing out of the void, on missions of millions and millions of miles. 


Who, and what was the Dread Being — dread in his Majesty 
and Justice, but inexhaustible in Love and Mercy — who used 
these exceeding means as mere instruments of his pleasure ? and 
what was he himself, that he should presume to set up his 
miserable pride of reason, in opposition to a revelation supported 
by miracles that must be admitted to come through men in- 
spired by the Deity, or rejected altogether ? 

In this frame of mind Roswell was made to see that Christi- 
,anity admitted of no half-way belief; it was all true, or it was 
wholly false. 

And why should not Christ be the Son of God, as the 
Fathers of the Church had perse veringly, but so simply pro- 
claimed, and as that Church had continued to teach for eighteen 
centuries ? Roswell believed himself to have been created in 
the image of God ; and his much-prized reason told him that 
he could perpetuate himself in successors ; and that which the 
Creator had given him the power to achieve, could he not in 
his own person perform ? For the first time, an inference to 
the contrary seemed to be illogical. 

Then the necessity for the great expiation occurred to his 
mind. This had always been a stumbling-block to Roswell’s 
faith. He could not see it; and that which he could not see 
he was indisposed to believe. Here was the besetting weak- 
ness of his character ; a weakness which did not suffer him to 
perceive that could he comprehend so profound a mystery, he 
would be raised far above that very nature in which he took so 
much pride. As he refiected on this branch of the subject, a 
thousand mysteries, physical and moral, floated before his mind ; 
and he became aware of the little probability that he should 


412 


THE SEA LIONS. 


have been endowed with the faculties to comprehend this, the 
greatest of them all. Had not science gradually discovered the 
chemical processes by which gases could be concentrated and 
disengaged, the formation of one of those glittering orbs above 
his head would have been quite as unintelligible a mystery to 
him, as the incarnation of the Saviour. The fact was, that 
phenomena that were just as mysterious to the human mind as 
any that the dogmas of Christianity required to be believed, 
exist hourly before our eyes without awakening skepticism, or 
exciting discussion ; finding their impunity in their familiarity. 
Many of these phenomena were strictly incomprehensible to 
human understandings, which could reason up to a fountain- 
head in each case ; and there it was obliged to abandon the 
inductive process, purely for the want of power to grapple with 
the premises which control the whole demonstration. 

Could Mary Pratt have known what was going on in Ros- 
well Gardiner’s soul that night, her happiness would have been 
as boundless as her gratitude to God. She would have seen 
the barrier that had so long interposed itself to her wishes 
broken down ; not by any rude hand, but by the influence of 
those whisperings of the Divine Spirit, which open the way to 
men to fit themselves for the presence of God. 




THE SEA LIONS. 


413 


CHAPTER XXYI. 

“ Let winter come ! let polar spirits sweep 
Tho darkening world, and tempest- troubled deep !’ 

Campbell. 

While the bosom of Roswell was thus warming with the new- 
born faith, of which the germ was just opening in his heart, 
Stimson came out upon the terrace to see what had become of 
his officer. It was much past the hour when the men got be- 
neath the coverings of their mattresses ; and the honest boat- 
steerer, who had performed the duty on which he had been 
sent, was anxious about Roswell’s remaining so long in the open 
air, on this positively the severest night of the whole season. 

“You stand the cold well. Captain Gar’ner,” said Stephen, as 
he joined his officer ; “ but it might be prudent, now, to get 
under cover.” 

“ I do not feel it cold, Stephen,” returned Roswell — “ on the 
contrary. I’m in a pleasant glow. My mind has been busy, 
while my frame has kept in motion. When such are the facts, 
the body seldom suffers. But, hearken — does it not seem that 
some one is calling to us from the direction of the wreck ?” 

The great distance to which sounds are conveyed in intensely 
cold and clear weather, is a fact known to most persons. Con- 
versations in the ordinary tone had been heard by the sealers 
when the speakers were nearly a mile off ; and, on several occa- 
sions, attempts had been made to hold communications, by 
means of the voice, between the wreck and the hut. Certain 
words had been understood ; but it was found impossible to 
hold any thing that could be termed conversation. Still, the 
voice had been often heard, and a fancy ha(r come over the 


414 


THE SEA LIONS. 


mind of Roswell that he heard a cry like a call for assistance, 
just as Stimson joined him. 

“ It is so late, sir, that I should hardly think any of the Vine- 
yarders would be up,” observed the boat-steerer, after listening 
some little time in the desire to catch the sound mentioned. 
“ Then it is so cold, that most men would like to get beneath 
their blankets as soon as they could.” 

“ I do not find it so very cold, Stephen. Have you looked 
at the thermometer lately ?” 

“ I gave it a look in coming out, sir ; and it tells a terrible 
story to-night ! The marcury is all down in the ball, which is 
like givin’ the matter up, I do suppose, Captain Gar’ner.” 

“ ’Tis strange ! I do not feel it so very cold ! The wind 
seems to be getting round to northeast, too ; give us enough of 
that, and we shall have a thaw. Hark ! there is the cry again.” 

This time there could be no mistake. A human voice had 
certainly been raised amid the stillness of that almost polar 
night, clearly appealing to human ears, for succor. The only 
word heard or comprehended was that of “ help ;” one well 
enough adapted to carry the sound far and distinctly. There 
was a strain of agony in the cry, as if he who made it 
uttered it in despair. Roswell’s blood seemed to flow back to 
his heart ; never had he before felt so appalling a sense of the 
dependence of man on a Divine Providence, as at that moment. 

“You heard it?” he said, inquiringly, to Stephen, after an 
instant of silent attention, to make sure that no more was to 
reach his ears just then. 

“ Sartain, sir — no man could mistake that. It was the voice 
of the nigger, Joe; him that Captain Daggett has for a cook.” 

“ Think you so, Stephen ? The fellow has good lungs, and 
they may have set him to call upon us in their distress. What 
can be the nature of the assistance they ask ?” 

“ I’ve been thinking of that, Captain Gar’ner ; and a difficult 
p’int it is to answer. Food they must have still ; and was they 
in want of their rations, hands would have been sent across to 


THE SEA LiaNS. 


415 


get ’em. They may have let tlieir fire go out, and be without 
the means to relight it. I can think of nothing else that is 
likely to happen to men so sarcumstanced.” 

The last suggestion struck Roswell as possible. From the 
instant he felt certain that he was called on for aid, he had de- 
termined to proceed to the wreck, notwithstanding the lateness 
of the hour, and the intense severity of the weather. As he 
had intimated to Stephen, he was not at all conscious how very 
cold it was ; exercise and the active workings of his mind hav- 
ing brought him to an excellent condition to resist the stern- 
ness of the season. The appeal had been so sudden and unex- 
pected, however, that he was at first somewhat at a loss how to 
proceed. This matter was now discussed between him and 
Stimson, when the following plan was adopted : 

The mates were to be called, and made acquainted with what 
had occurred, and put on their guard as to what might possibly 
be required of them. It was not thought necessary to call any 
of the rest of the men. There was always one hand on the 
watch in the house, whose duty it was to look to the fires, for 
the double purpose of security against a conflagration, and to 
prevent the warmth within from sinking too near to the cold 
without. It had often occurred to Roswell’s mind that a con- 
flagration would prove quick destruction to his party. In the 
first place, most of the provisions would be lost ; and it was 
certain that, without a covering and the means of keeping 
w^arm within it, the men could not resist the climate eight-and- 
forty hours. The burning of the hut would be certain death. 

Roswell took no one with him but Stimson. Two were as 
good as a hundred, if all that was asked were merely the 
means to relight the fire. These means were provided, and a 
loaded pistol was taken also, to enable a signal-shot to be fired, 
should circumstances seem to require further aid. One or 
two modes of communicating leading facts were concerted, 
when our hero and his companion set forth on their momen- 
tous journey. 


416 


THE SEA LIONto. 


Taking the hour, the weather, and the object before him a ] 
into the account, Roswell Gardiner felt that he was now enlisted 
in the most important undertaking of his whole life, as he and' ^ 
Stephen shook hands with the two mates, and left the point. 
The drifts rendered a somewhat circuitous path necessary at 
first ; but the moon and stars shed so much of their radiance 
on the frozen covering of the earth that the night was quite as 
light as many a London day. Excitement and motion kept 
the blood of our two adventurers in a brisk circulation, and 
prevented their becoming immediately conscious of the chill in- 
tensity of the cold to which they were exposed. 

“ It is good to think of Almighty God, and of his many 
marcies,” said Stephen, when a short distance from the house, 

“as a body goes forth on an expedition as serious as this. We 
may not live to reach the wrack, for it seems to me to grow 
colder and colder !” 

“I wonder we hear no more of the cries,” remarked Roswell, 
who was thinking of the distress he was bent on relieving.’ 

“ One would think that a man who could call so stoutly ‘would 
give us another cry.” - ' * ' 

“ A body can never calculate on a nigger,” answered Stephen, 
who had the popular American prejudice against the caste that 
has so long been held in servitude in the land. “ They call 
out easily, and shut up oncommon quick, if there’s nothin’ 
gained by yelling. Black blood won’t stand cold like white 
blood. Captain Gar’ner, any more than white blood will stand 
heat like black blood.” 

“ I have heard this before, Stephen ; and it has surprised me 
that Captain Daggett’s cook should be the only one of that 
party who seems to have had any voice to-night.” 

Stimson had a good deal to say now, as the two picked their 
way across the field of snow, always walking on the crust, 
which in most places would have upheld a loaded vehicle ; the 
subject of his remarks, being the difference between the two 
races as respects their ability to endure hardships. The worthv 


THE SEA LIONS. 


41V 


boat-steerer had several tales to relate of cases in which he had 
known negroes freeze when whites have escaped. As the fact 
is one pretty well established, Roswell listened complacently 
enough, being much too earnest in pressing forward towards 
his object to debate any of his companion’s theories just then. 
It was while thus employed that Roswell fancied he heard one 
more cry resembling those which had brought him on this dan- 
gerous undertaking, on a night so fearful. This time, however, 
the cry was quite faint ; and what was not so easily explained, 
it did not appear to come from the precise direction in which 
the wreck was known to lie, but from one that diverged con- 
siderably from that particular quarter. Of course, the officer 
mentioned this circumstance to the boat-steerer; and the extra- 
ordinary part of the information caused some particular discus- 
sion between them. 

“ To me that last call seemed to come from up yonder, 
nearer to the cliffs than the place where we are, and not at all 
from down there, near to the sea, where the wrack is,” said 
Stimson, in the course of his remarks. “ So sartain am I of 
this, that I feel anxious to change our course a little, to see if 
it be not possible that one of the Vineyarders has got into some 
difficulty in trying to come across to us.” 

Roswell had the same desire, for he had made the same con- 
jecture ; though he did not believe the black would be the per- 
son chosen to be the messenger on sucli an occasion. 

“ I think Captain Daggett would have come himself or have 
sent one of his best men,” he observed, “ in preference to trust- 
ing a negro with a duty so important.” 

“ We do* not know, sir, that it was the nigger we heard. 
Misery makes much the same cries, whether it comes from the 
throat of white or black. Let us work upward, nearer to the 
cliffs, sir ; I see something dark on the snow, hereaway, as it 
might be on our larboard bow.” 

Roswell caught a glimpse of the same object, and thither our 
adventurers now bent their steps, walking on the crust without 


418 


THE SEA LIONS. 


any difficulty, so long as they kept out of the drifts. One does 
not find it so easy to make any physical effort in an intensely 
cold atmosphere, as he does when the weather is more mod- 
erate. This prevented Roswell and his companion from moving 
as fast as they otherwise might have done ; but they got along 
with sufficient rapidity to reach the dark spot on the snow in 
less than five minutes after they had changed their course. 

“ You are right, Stephen,” said Gardiner, as he came up to 
this speck, amid the immensity of the white mantle that cov- 
ered both sea and land, far as the eye could reach ; “ it is the 
cook ! The poor fellow has given out here, about half way 
between the two stations.” 

“ There must be life in him yet, sir — nigger as he is. It’s 
not yet twenty minutes since he gave that last cry. Help me 
to turn him over. Captain Gar’ner, and we will rub him, and 
give him a swallow of brandy. A little hot coffee, now, might 
bring the life back to his heart.” 

Roswell complied, first firing his pistol as a signal to those 
left behind. The negro was not dead, but so near it that a 
very few more minutes would have sealed his fate. The appli- 
cations and frictions used by Gardiner and the boat-steerer had 
an effect. A swallow of the brandy probably saved the poor 
fellow’s life. While working on his patient. Captain Gardiner 
found a piece of frozen pork, which, on examination, he ascer- 
tained had never been cooked. It at once explained the nature 
of the calamity that had befallen the crew of the wreck. 

So intent were the two on their benevolent duty that a party 
arrived from the house, in obedince to the signal, in much less 
time than they could have hoped for. It was led by the mate, 
and came provided with a lamp burning beneath a tin vessel 
filled with sweetened coffee. This hot drink answered an excel- 
lent purpose with both well and sick. After a swallow or two, 
aided by a vigorous friction, and closely surrounded by so 
many human bodies, the black began to revive ; and the sort 
of drowsy stupor which is known to precede death in those 


THE SEA LIONS. 


419 


who die by freezing having been in a degree shaken off, he was 
enabled to stand alone, and by means of assistance to walk. 
The hot coffee was of the greatest service, every swallow that 
he got down appearing to set the engine of life into new mo- 
tion. The compelled exercise contributed its part; and by 
the time the mate, to use his own expression, “ had run the 
nigger into dock,” which meant when he had got him safe 
within the hut, his senses and faculties had so far revived as to 
enable him to think and to speak. As Gardiner and Stimsoii 
returned with him, everybody was up and listening, when the 
black told his story. 

It would seem that during the terrible month which had just 
passed, Daggett had compelled his crew to use more exercise 
than had been their practice of late. Some new apprehension 
had come over him on the subject of fuel, and his orders to be 
saving in that article were most stringent, and very rigidly en- 
forced. The consequence was that the camboose was not as 
well attended to as it had been previously, and as circumstances 
required, indeed, that it should be. At night the men were 
told to keep themselves warm with bedclothes, and by hud- 
dling together ; and the cabin being small, so many persons 
crowded together in it, did not fail to produce an impression 
on its atmosphere. 

Such was the state of things, when, on going to his cam- 
boose, in order to cook the breakfast, this very black found the 
fire totally extinguished! Not a spark could he discover, 
even among the ashes ; and, what was even worse, the tin- 
der-box had disappeared. As respects the last, it may be well 
to state here, that it was afterwards discovered carefully be- 
stowed between two of the timbers of the wreck, with a view 
to particular safe keeping ; the person who had made this dis- 
position of it forgetting what he had done. The loss of the 
tinder-box, under the circumstances, was almost as great a 
calamity as could have befallen men in the situation of the 
Vineyarders. As against the cold, by means of bedclothes. 


420 


THE SEA LIONS. 


exercise, and other precautions, it might have been possible to 
( xist for some time, provided warm food could be obtained ; but 
the frost penetrated the cabin, and every one soon became sen- 
sitively alive to the awkwardness, not to say danger, of their con- 
dition. A whole day was passed in fruitless attempts to obtain 
fire by various processes. Friction did not succeed ; it prob- 
ably never does with the thermometer at zero. Sparks could 
be obtained, but by this time every thing was stiff with the 
frost. The food already cooked was soon as hard as bullets, 
and it was found that on the second night brandy that was 
exposed was converted into a lump of ice. Not only did the 
intensity of the cold increase, but every thing, even to the hu- 
man system, seemed to be gradually congealing, and preparing 
to become converted into receptacles for frost. Several of the 
men began to suffer in their ears, noses, feet, and other extremi- 
ties, and the bunks were soon the only places in which it was 
found possible to exist in any thing like comfort. No less than 
three men had been sent, at intervals of a few hours, across to 
the house, with a view to obtain fire, or the means of lighting 
one, along with other articles that were considered necessary 
to the safety of the people. The cook had been the third and 
last of these messengers. He had passed his two shipmates, 
each lying dead on the snow, — or, as he supposed, lifeless ; for 
neither gave the smallest sign of vitality, on an examination. 
It was in the agony of alaim produced by these appalling spec- 
tacles, that the negro had cried aloud for help, sending the 
sounds far enough to reach the ears of Roswell. Still he had 
persevered ; until chilled, as much with terror as with the cold 
and the want of warm nourishment, the cook had sunk into 
what would have soon proved to be his last long sleep, when 
the timely succor arrived. 

It was some two hours after the black had been got into the ' 
hut, and was strengthened with a good hot supper, ere he had 
communicated all the facts just related. Roswell succeeded, 
however, in getting a little at a time from him ; and when no 


THE SEA LIONS. 


421 


more remained to be related, the plan was already arranged for 
future proceedings. It was quite clear no unnecessary delay 
should be permitted to take place. The cold continued to in- 
crease in intensity, notwithstanding it was the opinion of the 
most experienced among the men that a thaw, and a great 
spring thaw, was approaching. It often happens, in climates of 
an exaggerated character, that these extremes almost touch each 
other, as they are said to meet in man. 

Roswell left the house, for the second time that eventful 
night, just at the hour of twelve. He now went accompanied 
by the second mate and a foremast-hand, as well as by his old 
companion, the boat-steerer. Each individual drank a bowl of 
hot coffee before he set out, and a good warm supper had also 
been taken in the interval between the return and this new 
sortie. Experience shows that there is no such protector 
against the effect of cold as a full stomach, more especially if 
the food be w^arm and nourishing. This was understood by 
Roswell ; and not only did he cause the whole party that set 
forth with him at that late and menacing hour to receive this 
sustenance, but he ordered the kettle of boiling coffee to be 
carried with them, and kept two lamps burning for the double 
purpose of maintaining the heat, and of having a fire ready on 
reaching the wreck. The oil of the sea-elephant, together with 
pieces of canvas prepared for the purpose, supplied the neces- 
sary materials. 

So intensely severe was the weather, that Roswell had serious 
thoughts of returning when he reached the spot where the black 
had been found. But the picture of Daggett’s situation that 
occurred to his mind, urged him on, and he proceeded. Every 
precaution had been taken to exclude the cold, as it is usually 
termed, which, as it respects the body, means little less than 
keeping the vital heat in, and very useful were these provisions 
found to be. Skins formed the principal defence, though the 
men had long adopted the very simple but excellent expedient 
of wearing two shirts. Owing to this, and to the other meas- 


422 


THE SEA LIONS. 


ures taken, neither of the four was struck with a chill, and thej' 
all continued on. 

At the place mentioned by the black, the body of one of 
Daggett’s best men, a boat-steerer, was found. The man was 
dead, of course, and the corpse was as rigid as a billet of wood. 
Every particle of moisture in it had congealed, until the whole 
of what had been a very fine and manly frame, lay little more 
than a senseless lump of ice. A few degrees to the southward 
of the spot where it was now seen, it is probable that this relic 
of humanity would have retained its form and impression, until 
the trump sounded to summon it to meet its former tenant, the 
spirit, in judgment. 

No time was lost in useless lamentations over the body of 
this man, who was much of a favorite among the Oyster Pond- 
ers. Twenty minutes later, the second corpse was found ; both 
the bodies lying in what was. the customary track between the 
house and the wreck. It was the last that had died ; but, like 
that of the unfortunate man just described, it was in a state to 
be preserved ten thousand years, without the occurrence of a 
thaw. Merely glancing at the rigid features of the face, in 
order to identify the person, Roswell pas.sed on, the chill feel- 
ings of every individual of his party now admonishing them all 
of the necessity of getting as soon as possible to some place 
where they could feel the influence of a fire. In ten minutes 
more, the whole were in the caverns of the ice, and, presently, 
the cabin of the wreck was entered. Without turning to the 
right hand or to the left, without looking for one of the inmates 
of the place, every man among the new-comers turned his at- 
tention instantly to getting the fire lighted. The cartiboose had 
been filled with wood, and it was evident that many efforts had 
been made to produce a blaze, by those who had put it there. 
Splinters of pine had been inserted among the oak of the ves- 
sel, and nothing was wanting but the means of kindling. 
These, most fortunately for themselves, the party of Roswell 
had, and eagerly did they now have recourse to their use. 


THE SEA HONS. 


423 


There was not a man among the Oyster Ponders who did not, 
just at that moment, feel his whole being concentrated in that 
one desire to obtain warmth. The cold had slowly, but surely, 
insinuated itself among their garments, and slight chills were 
now felt even by Roswell, whose frame had been most wonder- 
fully sustained that night, through the force of moral feeling. 
Stimson was the individual who was put forward at the camboose, 
others holding the lamps, canvas saturated with oil, and some 
prepared paper. It was found to be perceptibly warmer within 
the cabin, with its doors closed, and the external coverings of 
sails, &c., that had been made to exclude the air, than without ; 
nevertheless, when Roswell glanced at a thermometer that was 
hanging against the bulk-head, he saw that all the mercury was 
still in the ball ! 

The interest with which our party now A'atched the proceed- 
ings of Stephen, had much of that intensity that is known to 
attend any exhibition of vital importance. Life and death 
were, however, to be dependent on the issue ; and the manner 
in which every eye was turned on the wood, and Stephen’s 
mode of dealing with it, denoted how completely the dread of 
freezing had got possession of the minds of even these robust 
and generous men. Roswell alone ventured, for a single mo- 
ment, to look around the cabin. Three of the Vineyarders only 
were visible in it ; though it struck him that others lay in the 
berths, under piles of clothes. Of the three who were up, one 
was so near the lamp he held in his hand, that its light illu- 
mined his face, and all that could be seen of a form enveloped 
in skins. This man sat leaning against a transom. His eyes 
were open, and glared on the party around the camboose ; the 
lips were slightly parted, and, at first, Roswell expected to hear 
him speak. The immovable features, rigid muscles, and wild 
expression of the eyeballs, however, soon told him the melan- 
choly truth. The man was dead. The current of life had ac- 
tually frozen at his heart. Shuddering, as much with horror 
as with a sharp chill that just then passed through his own 


424 


THE SEA LIONS. 


stout frame, our young master turned anxiously to note the suc- 
cess of Stimson, in getting the wood of the camboose in a blaze. 

Every one, in the least accustomed to a very severe climate, 
must have had frequent occasions to observe the reluctance 
with which all sorts of fuel burn, in exceedingly cold weather. 
The billet of wood that shall blaze merrily, on a mild day, moul- 
ders and simmers, and seems indisposed to give out any heat at 
all, with the thermometer at zero. In a word, all inanimate 
substances that contain the elements of caloric appear to sym- 
pathize with the prevailing state of the atmosphere, and to con- 
tribute to render that which is already too cold for comfort, 
even colder. So it was now, notwithstanding the preparations 
that had been made. Baffled twice in his expectations of pro- 
curing a blaze, Stephen stopped and took a drink of the hot 
coffee. As he swallowed the beverage, it struck him that it 
was fast losing its warmth. 

A considerable collection of canvas, saturated with oil, was 
now put beneath the pile, in the midst of splinters of pine, and 
one of the lamps was forced into the centre of the combusti- 
bles. This expedient succeeded ; the frosts were slowly chased 
out of the kindling materials ; a sickly but gradually increasing 
flame strove through the kindling stuff and soon began to play 
among the billets of the oak, the only fuel that could be relied 
on for available heat. Still there was great danger that the 
lighter wood would all be consumed ere this main dependence 
could be aroused from its dull inactivity. Frost appeared to be 
in possession of the whole pile ; and it was expelled so slowly, 
clung to its dominion with so much power, as really to render 
the result doubtful, for a moment or two. Fortunately, there 
was found a pair of bellows ; and by means of a judicious use 
of this very useful implement, the oak wood was got into a 
bright blaze, and warmth began to be given out from the Are. 
Then came the shiverings and chills, with which intense cold 
consents even to abandon the human frame; and, by their 
number and force, Roswell was made to understand how near 


THE SEA LIONS. 


425 


he and his companions had been to death. As the young man 
saw the fire slowly kindle to a cheerful blaze, a glow of grati- 
tude flowed towards his heart, and mentally he returned thanks 
to God. The cabin was so small, had been made so tight by 
artificial means, and the camboose was so large, that a sensible 
influence was produced on the temperature, as soon as the wood 
began to burn a little freely. As none of the heat was lost, 
the effect was not only apparent, but most grateful. Roswell 
had looked into the vessels of the camboose, while the fire was 
gathering head. One, the largest, was filled, or nearly so, with 
coffee frozen to a solid mass ! In the other, beef and pork had 
been set over to boil, and there the pieces now were, imbedded 
in ice, and frozen to blocks. It was when these two distinct 
masses of ice began to melt, that it was known the fire was 
beginning to prevail, and hope revived in the bosoms of the 
Oyster Ponders. On taking another look at the thermometer, 
it was found that the mercury had so far expanded as to be leav- 
ing the ball. It soon after ascended so high as to denote only 
forty degrees below zero ! 

Every thing, even to life, depending on maintaining and in- 
creasing the power of the fire, the men now looked about them 
for more fuel. There was an ample stock in the cabin, how- 
ever, the fire having become extinguished, not for want of wood, 
but in the usual way. It were needless to describe the manner 
in which those who stood around the stove watched the flames, 
or how profound was their satisfaction when they saw that 
Stimson had finally succeeded. 

I “ God be praised for this and for all his marcies !” exclaimed 
: Stephen, laying aside the bellows, at last. “ I can feel warmth 
from the fire, and that will save such of us as have not yet 
’ been taken away.” He then lifted the lids, and looked into the 
I different vessels that were on. The ice was melting fast, and 
;■ the steams of coffee became apparent to the senses. It was at 
i this instant that a feeble voice was heard issuing from beneath 
the coverings of a berth. 


426 


THE SEA LIONS. 


“ Gar’ner,” it said, imploringly, “ if you have any feelin’ for 
a fellow-creatur’ in distress, warm me up with one swallow of 
that coffee ! Oh ! how pleasantly it smells, and how good it 
must be for the stomach ! For three days have I tasted nothing 
— not even water.” 

This was Daggett, the long-tried sealer ; the man of iron 
nerves and golden longings ; he who had so lately concentrated 
within himself all that was necessary to form a pertinacious, 
resolute, and grasping seeker after gain. How changed, now, 
in all this ! He asked for the means of preserving life, and 
thought no more of skins, and oils, and treasures on desert 
keys. 

Roswell was no sooner apprised of the situation of his brother- 
master, than he bestowed the necessary care on his wants. 
Fortunately, the coffee brought by the Oyster Ponders, and 
which retained some of its original warmth, had been set before 
the fire, and was now as hot as the human stomach could bear 
it. Two or three swallows of this grateful fiuid were given to 
Daggett, and his voice almost instantaneously showed the effect 
they produced. 

“ I’m in a bad way, Gar’ner,” resumed the Vineyard-master ; 
“ I fear we’re all in a bad way, that are here. I held out ag’in 
the cold as long as human natur’ could bear it, but was forced 
to give in at last.” 

“How many of your people still remain, Daggett? tell us, 
that we may look for them, and attend to their wants.” 

“ I’m afraid, Gar’ner, they’ll never want any thing more in this 
life ! The second mate and two of the hands were sitting in 
the cabin when I got into this berth, and I fear ’t will be found 
that they’re dead. I urged them to turn in, too, as the berths 
were the only place Avhere any thing like warmth was to be 
found ; but drowsiness had come on ’em, and, when that is the 
case, fieezin’ soon follows.” 

“ The three men in the cabin are past our assistance, being 
actually frozen into logs ; but there must be several more of 


THE SEA LIONS. 427 

you. I see the signs of two others in the berths— ah ! what 
do you say to that poor fellow, Stephen ?” 

“ The spirit is still in the body, sir, but about to depart. If 
we can get him to swallow a little of the coffee, the angel of 
death may yet loosen his hold on him.” 

The coffee was got down this man’s throat, and he instantly 
revived. He was a young man named Lee, and was one of the 
finest physical specimens of strength and youth in the whole 
crew. On examining his limbs, none were found absolutely 
frozen, though the circulation of the blood was so near being 
checked that another hour of the great cold which had reigned 
in the cabin, and which was slowly increasing in intensity, 
must have destroyed him. On applying a similar process to 
Daggett, Roswell was startled at the discovery he made. The 
feet, legs, and forearms of the unfortunate Vineyarder were all 
as stiff and rigid as icicles. In these particulars there could be 
no mistake, and men were immediately sent for snow, in order 
to extract the frost by the only safe process known to the seal- 
ers. The dead bodies were carried from the cabin, and laid 
decently on the ice, outside, the increasing warmth within ren- 
dering the removal advisable. On glancing again at the ther- 
mometer, now suspended in a remote part of the cabin, the 
mercury was found risen to two above zero. This was a very 
tolerable degree of cold, and the men began to lay aside some 
of their extra defences against the weather, which would other- 
wise be of no service to them when exposed outside. 

The crew of the Vineyard Lion had consisted of fifteen souls, 
one less than that of her consort. Of these men, four had lost 
their lives between the wreck and the house ; two on a former, 
and two on the present occasion. Three bodies were found 
sitting in the cabin, and two more were taken out of the berths, 
dead. The captain, the cook and Lee, added to these, made a 
dozen, leaving but three of the crew to be accounted for. When 
questioned on the subject, Lee said that one of those three had 
frozen to death in the caverns, several days before, and the 



428 


THE SEA LIONS. 


other two had set out for the hut in the last snow-storm, unable 
to endure the cold at the wreck any longer. As these two 
men had not arrived at the house wdien Gardiner and his com- 
panions left it, they had perished, out of all doubt. Thus, of 
the fifteen human beings who had sailed together from Martha’s 
Vineyard, ready to encounter every hazard in order to secure 
wealth, or what in their estimation was wealth, but three re- 
mained ; and of these, two might be considered in a critical 
condition. Lee was the only man of the entire crew who was 
sound and fit for service. 


THE SEA LIONS. 


429 


CHAPTER XXVII. 

“ Bid him bow down to that which is above him, — 

The overruling Infinite,— the Maker,— 

Who made him not for worship, — let him kneel. 

And we will kneel together.” 

Btkon. 

When the bodies had been removed from the cabin, and the 
limbs of Daggett were covered with snow, Roswell Gardiner 
took another look at the thermometer. It had risen already to 
twenty degrees above zero. This was absolutely warmth, com- 
pared with the temperature from which the men had just es- 
caped, and it was felt to be so, in their persons. The fire, 
however, was not the only cause of this most acceptable 
change. One of the men who had been outside soon came 
back and reported a decided improvement in the weather. The 
wind, which had been coquetting with the northeast point of 
the compass for several hours, now blew steadily from that 
quarter. An hour later it was found, on examination, that a 
second thermometer, which was outside, actually indicated- ten 
above zero ! This sudden and great change came altogether 
from the wind, which was now in the warm quarter. The men 
stripped themselves of most of their skins, and the fire was 
suffered to go down, though care was taken that it should not 
again be totally extinguished. 

We have little pleasure in exhibiting pictures of human suf 
fering ; and shall say but little of the groans and pains that 
Daggett uttered and endured, while undergoing that most ag- 
onizing process of having the frost taken out of his system by 
cold applications. It was the only safe way of treating his 
case, however, and as he knew it, he bore his sufferings as well 


430 


THE SEA LIONS. 


as man could bear them. Long ere the return of day he was 
released from his agony, and was put back into his berth, 
which had been comfortably arranged for him, having the 
almost unheard-of luxury of sheets^ with an additional mattress. 

Stephen remarked, when the men were told to try and get 
a little sleep, “ There’s plenty of berths empty, and each on 
us can have as many clothes and as warm a bed as he can ask 
for, now that so many have hastened away to their great account, 
as it might be, in the pride of their youth and strength.” 

Activity, the responsibility of command, and the great neces- 
sity there had been for exertion, prevented Roswell from re- 
flecting much on what had happened, until he lay down to catch 
a little sleep. Then, indeed, the whole of the past came over him 
in one sombre, terrible picture, and he had the most lively per- 
ception of the dangers from which he had escaped, as well as 
of the mercy of God’s providence. Surrounded by the dead, 
as it might be, and still uncertain of the fate of the living, his 
views of the past and future became much lessened in confi- 
dence and hope. The majesty and judgment of God assumed 
a higher place than common in his thoughts, while his estimate 
of himself was fast getting to be humbled and searching. In 
the midst of all these changes of views and feelings, however, 
there was one image unaltered in the young man’s imagination. 
Mary occupied the background of every picture, with her 
meek, gentle, but blooming countenance. If he thought of 
God, her eyes were elevated in prayer ; if the voyage home was 
in his mind, and the chances of success were calculated, her 
smiles and anxious watchfulness stimulated him to adventure ; 
if arrived and safe, her downcast but joyful looks betrayed the 
modest happiness of her inmost heart. It was in the midst of 
some such pictures that Roswell now fell asleep. 

When the party turned out in the morning, a still more de- 
cided change had occurred in the weather. The wind had 
increased to a gale, bringing with it torrents of rain. Coming 
from the warm quarter, a thaw had set in with a character 


THE SEA LIONS. 


431 


quite as decided as the previous frost. In that region the 
weather is usually exaggerated in its features, and the change 
from winter to spring is quite as sudden as that from autumn 
to winter. We use the terms “spring” and “autumn” out of 
complaisance to the usages of men ; but in fact these two sea- 
sons have scarcely any existence at all in the antarctic seas. 
The change commonly is from winter to summer, such as sum- 
mer is, and from summer back to winter. 

Notwithstanding the favorable appearances of things, when 
Roswell walked out into the open air next morning, he well 
knew that summer had not yet come. Many weeks must go 
by ere the ice could quit the bay, and even a boat could put 
to sea. There were considerations of prudence, therefore, that 
should not be neglected, connected \Vith the continuance of the 
supplies and the means of subsistence. In one respect, the 
party now on the island had been gainers by the terrible losses 
it had sustained in Daggett’s crew. The provisions of the two 
vessels might now virtually be appropriated to the crew of 
one ; and Roswell, when he came to reflect on the circumstan- 
ces, saw that a Providential interference had probably saved 
the survivors from great privations, if not from absolute want. 

Still there was a thaw, and one of that decided character 
which marks a climate of great extremes. The snows on the 
mountain soon began to descend upon the plain in foaming tor- 
rents ; and increased by the tribute received from the last, the 
whole came tumbling over the cliffs in various places in rich 
water- falls. There was about a mile of rock that was one con- 
tinuous cataract, the sheet being nearly unbroken for the whole 
distance. The effect of this deluge from the plain above was 
as startling as it was grand. All the snow along the rocky 
shore soon disappeared ; and the fragments of ice began rapidly 
to diminish in size, and to crumble. At first Roswell felt 
much concern on account of the security of the wreck; his 
original apprehension being that it would be washed away. 
This ground of fear was soon succeeded by another of scarcely 


432 


THE SEA LIONS. 


less serious import — that of its being crushed by the enormous i 
cakes of ice that made the caverns in which it lay, and which ; 
now began to settle and change their positions, as the water 
washed away their bases. At one time Roswell thought of set- 
ting the storm at defiance, and of carrying Daggett across to i 
the house by means of the hand-barrow ; but when he came to 
look at the torrents of water that were crossing the rocks, 
so many raging rivulets, the idea was abandoned as impracti- 
cable. Another night was therefore passed in the midst of the 
tempest. 

The northeast wind, the rain, and the thaw, were all at work 
in concert, when our adventurers came abroad to look upon 
the second day of their sojourn in the wreck. By this time 
the caverns were dripping with a thousand little streams, and 
every sign denoted a most rapid melting of the ice. On carry- ^ 
ing the thermometer into the open air it stood at sixty-two ; ] 
and the men found it necessary to lay aside their second shirt, | 
and all the extraordinary defences of their attire. Nor was 
this all : the wind that crosses the salt water is known to have ij 
more than the usual influence on the snows and ice ; and such ^ 
was the efiect now produced by it on Sealer’s Land. The \ 
snow, indeed, had mostly disappeared from all places but the J 
drifts ; while the ice was much diminished in its size and out- I 
lines. So grateful was the change from the extreme cold that 
they had so lately endured, that the men thought nothing of 
the rain at all ; they went about in it just as if it did not 
stream down upon them in little torrents. Some of them , 
clambered up the cliffs, and reached a point whence it was 
known that they could command a view of the house. The 
return of this party, which Roswell did not accompany, was 
waited for with a good deal of interest. When it got back, it 3 
brought a report that was deemed important in several partic- ■) 
ulars. The snow had gone from the plain, and from the moun- i 
tain, with the exception of a few spots where there had been v 
unusual accumulations of it. As respected the house, it was ^ 


THE SEA LIONS. 


438 


I standing, and the snow had entirely disappeared from its 
' vicinity. The men could be seen walking about on the bare 
rocks, and every symptom was that of settled spring. 

, This was cheering news; and the torrents having much 
diminished in size, some having, disappeared altogether, Ros- 
well set out for the cape, leaving the second mate in charge of 
the wreck. Lee, the young Vineyardei’, who had been rescued 
from freezing by the timely arrival of our hero, accompanied 
the latter, having joined his fortunes to those of the Oyster 
Ponders. The two reached the house before dark, where they 
found Hazard and his companions in a good deal of concern 
i touching the fate of the party that was out. A deep impres- 
sion was made by the report of what had befallen the other 
i crew ; and that night Roswell read prayers to as attentive a 
i congregation as was ever assembled around a domestic hearth. 

I As for fire, none was now needed, except for culinary purposes, 

: though all the preparations to meet cold weather were main- 
tained, it being well known that a shift of wind might bring 
back the fury of the winter. 

I The following morning it was clear, though the wind con- 
' tinned warm aod balmy from the north. No such weather, in- 
deed, had been felt by the sealers since they reached the group ; 

: and the effect on them was highly cheering and enlivening. 
I Before he had breakfasted, Roswell was down in the cove, ex- 
! amining into the condition of his vessel, or what remained of 
: her. A good deal of frozen snow still lay heaped on the mass, 

‘ and he set the hands at work to shovel it off. Before noon 
'• the craft was clear, and most of the snow was melted, it re- 
I quiring little more than exposure to the air in order to get rid 
) of it. 

: As soon as the hulk was clear, Roswell directed his men to 

i take every thing out of it ; the remains of cargo, water-casks^ 

■ and some frozen provisions, in order that it might float as light 
i as possible. The ice was frozen close to every part of the ves- 
; sel’s bottom to a depth of several feet, following hei- mould, a 
; 19 


434 


THE SEA LIONS. 


circiirastance that would necessarily prevent her settling in the 
water below her timbers ; but, as there was no telling when 
this ice might begin to recede by melting, it was deemed pru- 
dent to use this precaution. It was found that the experiment 
succeeded, the hulk actually rising, when relieved from the 
weight in it, not less than four inches. 

A consultation was held that night, between Gardiner, his 
officers, and the oldest of the seamen. The question presented 
was whether the party should attempt to quit the group in the 
boats, or whether they should build a little on the hulk, deck 
her over, and make use of this altered craft to return to the 
northward. There was a good deal to be said on both sides. 
If the boats were used, the party might leave as soon as the 
weather became settled, and the season a little more advanced, 
by dragging the boats on sledges across the ice to the open 
water, which was supposed to be some ten or twenty miles to 
the northward, and a large amount of provisions might thus 
be saved. On the other hand, however, as it regarded the pro- 
visions, the boats would hold so little, that no great gain 
would be made by going early in them, and leaving a sufiicient 
supply behind to keep all hands two or three months. This 
was a consideration that presented itself, and it had its weight 
in the decision. Then there was the chance o^ the winter’s 
returning, bringing with it the absolute necessity of using a 
great deal more fuel. Tnis was a matter of life and death. 
Comparatively pleasant as the weather had become, there was 
no security for its so continuing. One entire spring month was 
before the sealers, and a shift of wind might convert the weather 
into a wintry temperature. Should such be the case, it might 
become indispensable to burn the very materials that would be 
required to build up and deck over the hulk. There were, 
therefore, many things to be taken into the account ; nor 
was the question settled without a great deal of debate and 
reflection. 

After discussing all these points, the decision was as follows. 


THE SEA LIONS. 


435 


It was at least a month too soon to think of trusting themselves 
in that stormy ocean, on the high seas and in the open boats ; 
and this so much the more because nature, as if expi'essly to 
send back a reasonable amount of warm air into the polar 
I regions, with a view to preserve the distinction of the seasons, 

I caused the wind to blow most of the time from the northward. 

As this month, in all prudence, must be passed on the island, it 
! might as well be occupied with building upon the hulk, as in 
any other occupation. Should the cold weather return, the 
; materials would still be there, and might be burned, in the last 
i extremity, just as well, or even with greater facility, after being 
brought over to the cove, as if left where they then were, or at 
the wreck. Should the winter not return, the work done on 
the vessel would be so much gained, and they would be ready 
for an earlier start, when the ice should move. 

On this last plan the duty was commenced, very little inter- 
rupted by the weather. For quite three weeks the wind held 
; from points favorable to the progress of spring, veering from 
I east to west, but not once getting any southing in it. Occa- 
: sionally it blew in gales, sending down upon the group a swell 
that made great havoc with the outer edges of the field-ice. 
Every day or two a couple of hands were sent up the mountain 
to take a look-out, and to report the state of matters in the ad- 
jacent seas. The fleet of bergs had not yet come out of port, 
though it was in motion to the southward, like three-deckers 
dropping down to outer anchorages, in roadsteads and bays. 
As Roswell intended to be off before these formidable cruisers 
i put to sea, their smallest movement or change was watched and 
I noted. As for the field-ice, it was broken up, miles at a time, 
until there remained very little of it, with the exception of the 
portion that was wedged in and jammed among the islands of 
the group. From some cause that could not be ascertained, the 
waves of the ocean, which came tumbling in before the northern 
gales, failed to roll home upon this ice, which lost its margin, 
now it was reduced, to the limits of the group, slowly and with 


436 


THE SEA LIONS. 


great resistance. Some of the sealers ascribed this obstinacy in 
the bay-ice to its greater thickness ; believing that the shallow- 
ness of the water had favored a frozen formation below, that 
did not so much prevail off soundings. This theory may have 
been true, though there was quite as much against it as in its 
favor, for polar ice usually increases above and not from below. 
The sea is much warmer than the atmosphere, in the cold 
months, and the ice is made by deposits of snow, moisture, and 
sleet, on the surfaces of the fields and bergs. 

In those three weeks, which carried forward the season to 
within ten days of summer, a great deal of useful work was 
done. Daggett was brought over to the house, on a handbar- 
row, for the second time, and made as comfortable as circum- 
stances would allow. From the first, Roswell saw that his state 
was very precarious, the frozen legs, in particular, being threat- 
ened with mortification. All the expedients known to a sealer’s 
materia medica were resorted to, in order to avert consequences 
so serious, but without success. The circulation could not be 
restored, as nature required it to be done, and, failing of the 
support derived from a healthful condition of the vital current, 
the fatal symptoms slowly supervened. This change, however, 
was so gradual, that it scarce affected the regular course of the 
duty. 

It was a work of great labor to transport the remaining tim- 
bers and plank of the wreck to the cove. Without the wheels, 
indeed, it may be questioned whether it could have been done 
at all, in a reasonable time. The breaking up of the schooner 
was, in itself, no trifling job, for fully one-half of the frame re- 
mained to be pulled to pieces. In preparing the materials for 
use, again, a good deal of embarrassment was experienced in 
consequence of the portions of the two vessels that were left 
being respectively their lower bodies, all the upper works of 
each having been burned, with the exception of the after part 
of Daggett’s craft, which had been preserved on account of the 
cabin. This occasioned a good deal of trouble in moulding and 


THE SEA LIONS. 


437 


fitting the new upper works on the hulk in the cove. Roswell 
had no idea of rebuilding his schooner strictly in her old form 
and proportions ; he did not, indeed, possess the materials for 
such a reconstruction. His plan was, simply, to raise on the 
hulk as much as was necessary to render her safe and conve- 
nient, and then to get as good and secure a deck over all as cir- 
cumstances would allow. 

Fortunately for the progress of the work, Lee, the Vineyard 
man, was a ship-carpenter, and his skill essentially surpassed 
that of Smith, who filled the same station on board the Oyster 
Pond craft. These two men were now of the greatest service ; 
for, though neither understood drafting, each was skilful in the 
use of tools, and a certain readiness that enabled him to do a 
hundred things that he had never found it necessary to attempt 
on any former occasion. If the upper frame that was now got 
on the Sea Lion was not of a faultless mould, it was securely 
fastened, and rendered the craft even stronger than it had been 
originally. Some regard was had to resisting the pressure of 
ice, and experience had taught all the sealers where the princi- 
pal defences against the effects of a “ nip” ought to be placed. 
The lines were not perfect, it is true ; but this was of less mo- 
ment, as the bottom of the craft, which alone had any material 
influence on her sailing, was just as it had come from the hands 
of the artisan who had originally moulded her. 

By the end of a fortnight, the new top-timbers were all in 
their places, and secured, while a complete set of bends were 
brought to them, and were well bolted. The caulking-irons 
were put in requisition as soon as a streak was on, the whole 
work advancing, as it might be, jpari passu. Planks for the 
decks were much wanted, for, in the terrible strait for fuel 
which had caused the original assault on the schooner, this por- 
tion of the vessel had been the first burned, as of the most 
combustible materials. The quarter-deck of the Vineyard 
craft, luckily, was entire, and its planks so far answered an ex- 
cellent purpose. They served to make a new quarter-deck for 


438 


THE SEA LIONS. 


the repairs, but the whole of the main-deck and forecastle re- 
mained to be provided for. Materials were gleaned from differ- 
ent parts of the two vessels, until a reasonably convenient, and 
a perfectly safe deck was laid over the whole craft, the coam- 
ings for the hatches being taken from Daggett’s schooner, 
which had not been broken up in those parts. It is scarcely 
necessary to say that the ice had early melted from the rocks of 
the coast. The caverns all disappeared within the first week 
of the thaw, the attitudes into which the cakes had been thrown 
greatly favoring the melting process, by exposing so much sur- 
face to the joint action of wind, rain, and sun. What was 
viewed as a favorable augury, the seals began to reappear. 
There was a remote portion of the coast, from which the ice 
had been driven by the winds around the northwest cape, that 
was already alive with them. Alas ! these animals no longer 
awakened cupidity in the breasts of the sealers. The last no 
longer thought of gain, but simply of saving their lives, and of 
restoring themselves to the humble places they had held in the 
world, previously to having come on this ill-fated voyage. 

This reappearance of the seals produced a deep impression 
on Roswell Gardiner. His mind had been much inclined of 
late to dwell more and more on religious subjects, and his con- 
versations with Stephen were still more frequent than formerly. 
Not that the boat-steerer could enlighten him on the great 
subject, by any learned lore, for in this Stimson was quite de- 
ficient ; but his ofilcer found encouragement in the depth and 
heartiness of his companion’s faith, which seemed to be raised 
above all doubts and misgivings whatever. During the gloom- 
iest moments of that fearful winter, Stephen had been uniform- 
ly confiding and cheerful. Not once had he been seen to 
waver, though all around him were desponding and anticipating 
the worst. His heart was light exactly in proportion as his 
faith was strong. 

“We shall neither freeze nor starve,” he used to say, “ unless 
it be God’s will ; and, when it is his pleasure, depend on it, 


THE SEA LIONS. 


489 


friends, it will be for our good.” As for Daggett, lie had 
finally given up his hold on the wreck, and it seemed no longer 
to fill his thoughts. When he was told that the seals had 
come back, his eyes brightened, and his nature betrayed some 
of its ardent longings. But it was no more than a gleaming 
of the former spirit of the man, now becoming dim under the 
darkness that was fast encircling all his views of the world. 

“ It’s a pity, Gar’ner, that we have no craft ready for the 
work,” he said, under the first impulse of the intelligence. 
“ At this early time in the season, a large ship might be 
filled !” 

“We have other matters on our hands. Captain Daggett,” 
was the answer ; “ they must be looked to first. If we can get 
off the island at all, and return safe to those who, I much fear, 
are now mourning us as dead, we shall have great reason’ to 
thank God.” 

“ A few skins would do no great harm, Gar’ner, even to a 
craft cut down and reduced.” 

“ We have more cargo now than we shall be able to take 
with us. Quite one half of all our skins must be left behind 
us, and all of the oil. The hold of the schooner is too shallow to 
carry enough of any thing to make out a voyage. I shall bal- 
last with water and provisions, and fill up all the spare room 
with the best of our skins. The rest of the property must be 
abandoned.” 

“ Why abandoned ? Leave a hand or two to take care of it, 
and send a craft out to look for it as soon as you get home. 
Leave me, Gar’ner, I am willing to stay.” 

Roswell thought that the poor man would be left, whether 
he wished to remain or not, for the symptoms that are known 
to be so fatal in cases like that of Daggett’s were making them- 
selves so apparent as to leave little doubt of the result. What 
rendered this display of the master-passion somewhat remark- 
able was the fact that our hero had on several occasions con- 
versed with the invalid, concealing no material feature of his 


440 


THE SEA LIONS. 


case, and the latter had expressed his expectation of a fatal ter- 
mination, if not an absolute willingness to die. Stimson had 
frequently prayed with Daggett, and Roswell had often read 
particular chapters of the Bible to him, at his own request, 
creating an impression that the Vineyarder was thinking more 
of his end than of any interest connected with this life. Such 
might have been, probably was the case, until the seeming re- 
turn of what had once been deemed good luck awakened old 
desires, and brought out traits of character that were about to 
be lost in the near views of a future world. All this Roswell 
saw and noted, and the reflection produced by his own perilous 
condition, the certain loss of so many companions, the probable 
death of Daggett, and the humble but impressive example and 
sympathy of Stimson, were such as would have delighted the 
tender spirit of Mary Pratt, could she have known of their ex- 
istence. 

But the great consideration of the moment, the centre of all 
the hopes and fears of our sealers, was the rebuilding of the 
mutilated Sea Lion. Although the long thaw did so much for 
them, the reader is not to regard it as such a spell of warm 
weather as one enjoys in May within the temperate zone. 
There were no flowers, no signs of vegetation, and whenever 
the wind ceased to blow smartly from the northward, there 
was frost. At two or three intervals cold snaps set in that 
looked seriously like a return to winter, and at the end of the 
third week of pleasant weather mentioned, it began to blow a 
gale from the southward, to snow, and to freeze. The storm 
commenced about ten in the forenoon ; ere the sun w^ent down, 
the days then being of great length, every passage around the 
dwelling was already blocked up with banks of snow. Sev- 
eral times had the men asked permission to remove the sails 
from the house, to admit air and light ; but it was now found 
that the tent-like verandah they formed was of as much use as 
it had been at any time during the season. Without it, indeed, 
it would not have been possible for the people to quit their 


THE SEA LIONS. 


441 


dwelling during three entire days. Every thing like work was, 
of course, suspended during this tempest, which seriously men- 
aced the unfortunate sealers with the necessity of again break- 
ing up their schooner, now nearly completed, with a view 
again to keep themselves from freezing. The weather was not 
so intensely cold as it had been, continuously, for months during 
the past winter ; but, coming as it did, after so long a spell of 
what might be considered as a balmy atmosphere in that region, 
it found the people unbraced, and little prepared for it. At 
no time was the thermometer lower than twenty degrees below 
zero ; this was near morning, after a sharp and stinging night ; 
nor was it for any succession of hours much below zero. But 
zero was now hard to bear, and fires, and good fires too, were 
absolutely necessary to keep the men from sufiering, as well as 
from despondency. Perhaps the spectacle of Daggett, dying 
from the effects of frost, before their eyes, served to increase 
the uneasiness of the people, and to cause them to be less spar- 
ing of the fuel than persons in their situation ought to have been. 
It is certain that a report was brought to Roswell, in the 
height of the tempest, and when the thermometer was at the 
lowest, that there was not wood enough left from the plunder 
of the two vessels, exclusively of that which had been worked 
up in the repairs, to keep the fires going eight-and-forty hours 
longer ! It was true, a little wood, intended to be used in the 
homeward passage, enough to last as far as Rio possibly, had 
been used in §towing the hold ; and that might be got at first, 
if it ever ceased to snow. Without that addition to the stock 
in the house, it would not be within the limits of probability to 
suppose the people could hold out against the severity of such 
weather a great while longer. 

Every expedient that could be devised to save wood, and to 
obtain warmth from other sources, was resorted to, of course, 
by Roswell’s orders. Lamps were burned with great freedom ; 
not little vessels invented to give light, but such torches as one 
sees at the lighting up of a princely court-yard on the occa- 

19 ^ 


442 


THE SEA LIONS. 


sion of a fete^ in which wicks are made by the pound, and unc- 
tuous matter is used by the gallon. Old canvas and elephants’ 
oil supplied the materials; and the spare camboose, which 
had been brought over to the house to be set up there, while 
the other galley was being placed on board, very well answered 
the purpose of a lamp. Some warmth was obtained by these 
means, but much more of a glaring and unpleasant light. 

It was during the height of this tempest that the soul of 
Daggett took its flight towards the place of departed spirits, in 
preparation for the hour when it was to be summoned before 
the judgment-seat of God. Previously to his death, the unfor- 
tunate Vineyarder held a frank and confidential discourse with 
Roswell. As his last hour approached, his errors and mistakes 
became more distinctly apparent, as is usual with men, while 
his sins of omission seemed to crowd the vista of by-gone 
days. Then it was that the whole earth did not contain that 
which, in his dying eyes, would prove an equivalent for one 
hour passed in a sincere, devout, and humble service of the 
Deity ! 

“ I’m afraid that I’ve loved money most too well,” he said to 
Roswell, not an hour before he drew his last breath ; “ but I 
hope it was not so much for myself as for others. A wife 
and children, Gar’ner, tie a man to ’arth in a most unaccount- 
able manner. Sealers’ companions are used to hearing of mis- 
fortunes, and the Vineyard women know that few on ’em live 
to see a husband at their side in old age. Still, it is hard on a 
mother and wife to I’arn that her chosen friend has been cut off 
in the pride of his days, and in a distant land. Poor Betsey ! 
It would have been better for us both had we been satisfied 
with the little we had ; for now the good woman will have to 
look to all matters for herself.” 

Daggett now remained silent for some time, though his lips 
moved, most probably in prayer. It was a melancholy sight to 
see a man in the vigor of his manhood, whose voice was strong, 
and whose heart was still beating with vigor and vitality, stand- 


THE SEA LION s'; 


443 


ing, as it were, on the brink of a precipice, down which all 
knew he was to be so speedily hurled. But the decree had gone 
forth, and no human skill could arrest it. Shortly after the 
confession and lamentation we have recorded, the decay reached 
the vitals, and the machine of clay stopped. To avoid the un- 
pleasant consequences of keeping the body in so warm a place, 
it was buried in the snow a short distance from the house, 
wnthin an hour after it had ceased to breathe. 

When Roswell Gardiner saw this man, who had so long ad- 
hered to him, like a leech, in the pursuit of gold, laid a sense- 
less corpse among the frozen flakes of the antarctic seas, he felt 
that a lively admonition of the vanity of the world was adminis- 
tered to himself. How little had he been able to foresee all that 
had happened, and how mistaken had been his own calculations 
and hopes ! What, then, was that intellect of which he had 
been so proud, and what reason had he to rely on himself in 
those matters that lay equally beyond the cradle and the gTave 
— that incomprehensible past, and the unforeseen future, to- 
wards which all those in existence were hastening ! Roswell 
had received many lessons in humility, the most useful of all 
the lessons that man can receive in connection with the relation 
that really exists between the Deity and himself. Often had he 
wondered, while reading the Bible Mary Pratt had put into his 
hand, at the stubborn manner in which the chosen people of 
God had returned to their “ idols,” and their “ groves,” and 
their “ high places ;” but he was now made to understand that 
others still erred in this great particular, and that of all the 
idols men worship, that of self was perhaps the most objection- 
able. 


444 


THE SEA LIONS. 


CHAPTER XXVIII. 

“ Long swoln in drenching rains, seeds, germs, and buds, 

Start at the touch of vivifying beams. 

Moved by their secret voice, the vital lymph 
Diffusive runs, and spreads o’er wood and field 
A flood of verdure.” 

WlLOOX. 

At length it came to be rumored among the sealers that the 
fires must be permitted to go out, or that the materials used for 
making the berths, and various other fixtures of the house, must 
be taken to supply the stove. It was when it got to be known 
that the party was reduced to this sad dilemma, that Roswell 
broke through the bank of snow that almost covered the house, 
and got so far into the open air as to be able to form some es- 
timate of the probable continuance of the present cold weather. 
The thermometer, within the bank of snow, but outside of the 
building, then stood at twenty below zero ; but it was much 
colder in the unobstructed currents of as keen and biting a 
south wind as ever came howling across the vast fields of ice 
that covered the polar basin. The snow had long ceased, but 
not until an immense quantity had fallen ; nearly twice as much, 
Roswell and Hazard thought, as they had seen on the rocks at 
any time that winter. 

“I see no signs of a change, Mr. Hazard,” Roswell remarked, 
shivering with the intensity of the cold. “We had better go 
back into the house before we get chilled, for we have no fire 
now to go to, to warm ourselves. It k much warmer within 
doors, than it is in the open air, fire or no fire.” 

“ There are many reasons for that. Captain Gar’ner,” an- 
swered the mate. “ So many bodies in so small a space, the 


THE SEA LIONS. 


445 


shelter from the wind and outer air, and the snow-banks, all 
help us. I think we shall find the thermometer in-doors at a 
I pretty comfm'table figure this morning.” 

I On examining it, it was found to stand at only fifteen below 
j zero, making a difference of five degrees in favor of the house, 

( as compared with the sort of covered gallery under the tent, and 
j probably of five more, as compared with the open air. 

i On a consultation, it was decided that all hands should eat a 
t hearty meal, remove most of their clothes, and get within the 

ii coverings of their berths, to see if it would not be possible to 
! wear out the cold spell, in some tolerable comfort, beneath rugs 
ij and blankets. On the whole it was thought that the berths 
I might be made more serviceable by this expedient, than by put- 
ting their materials into the stoves. Accordingly, within an 
hour after Koswell and his mate had returned from their brief 

I out-door excursion, the whole party was snugly bestowed under 
piles of rugs, clothes, sails, and whatever else might be used to 
; retain the animal heat near the body, and exclude cold. In 
I this manner, six-and-thirty hours were passed, not a man of them 
i all having the courage to rise from his lair, and encounter the 
severity of the climate, now unrelieved by any thing like a fire. 

Roswell had slept most of the time, during the last ten hours, 
j and in this he was much like all around him. A general feel- 
I ing of drowsiness had come over the men, and the legs and feet 
! of many among them, notwithstanding the quantity of bed- 
clothes that were, in particular, piled on that part of their per- 
son, were sensitively alive to the cold. No one ever knew how 
low the thermometer went that fearful night; but a sort of 
common consciousness prevailed, that nothing the men had yet 
' seen, or felt, equalled its chill horrors. The cold had got into 
the house, converting every article it contained into a mass of 
frost. The berths ceased to be warm, and the smallest expo- 
sure of a shoulder, hand, or ears, soon produced pain. The 
heads of very many of the party were aftected, and breathing 
became difficult and troubled. A numbness began to steal 


446 


THE SEA LIONS. 


over the lower limbs ; and this was the last unpleasant sensa- 
tion remembered by Roswell, when he fell into another short 
and disturbed slumber. The propensity to sleep very gen- 
eral now, though many struggled against it, knowing it was the 
usual precursor of death by freezing. 

Our hero never knew how long he slept in the last nap he 
took on that memorable occasion. When he awoke, he found 
a bright light blazing in the hut, and heard some one moving 
about the camboose. Then his thoughts reverted to himself, 
and to the condition of his limbs. On trying to rub his feet to- 
gether, he found them so nearly without sensation as to make 
the consciousness of their touching each other almost out of the 
question. Taking the alarm at once, he commenced a violent 
friction, until by slow degrees he could feel that the nearly stag- 
nant blood was getting again into motion. So great had been 
Roswell’s alarm, and so intent his occupation, that he took no 
heed of the person who was busy at the camboose, until the 
man appeared at the side of his berth, holding a tin-pot in his 
hand. It was Stimson, up and dressed, without his skins, and 
seemingly in perfect preservation. 

“ Here’s some hot cotfee. Captain Gar’ner,” said the provident 
boat-steerer, “ and then turn out. The wind has shifted, by the 
marcy of God, and it has begun to rain. JVow, I think we may 
have summer in ’arnest, as summer comes among these sealin’ 
islands.” 

Roswell took six or eight swallows of the coffee, which was 
smoking hot, and instantly felt the genial influence diffused 
over his whole frame. Sending Stephen to the other berths 
with this timely beverage, he now sat up in his berth, and 
rubbed his feet and legs with his hands. The exercise, friction, 
and hot coffee, soon brought him round ; and he sprang out of 
his berth, and was quickly dressed. Stimson had lighted a fire 
in the camboose, using the very last of the wood, and the 
warmth was beginning to diffuse itself through the building. 
But the change in the wind, and the consequent melioration of 


THE SEA LIONS. 


44Y 




j the temperature, probably alone saved the whole of the Oyster 
Pond crew from experiencing the dire fate of that of the Vine- 
yard craft. 

Stephen got man after man out of his berth, by doses of the 
j steaming coffee ; and the blood being thus stimulated, by the 
aid of friction, everybody was soon up and stirring. It was 
found, on inquiry, that all three of the blacks had toes or ears 
frozen, and with them the usual application of snow became ne- 
cessary ; but the temperature of the house soon got to be so 
high as to render the place quite comfortable. Warm food 
being deemed very essential, Stephen had put a supply of beans 
and pork into his coppers ; and the frost having been extracted 
from a quantity of the bread by soaking it in cold water, a 
I hearty meal of good, hot, and most nourishing food, was made 
I by all hands. This set our sealers up, no more complaints of 
the frost being heard. 

' It was, indeed, no longer very cold. The thermometer was 
up to twenty-six above zero in the house when Roswell turned 
out ; and the cooking process, together with Stephen’s fires and 
the shift of wind, soon brought the mercury up to forty. This 
was a cheering temperature for those who had been breathing 
the polar air; and the influence of the northeast gale con- 
tinued to increase. The rain and thaw produced another del- 
uge ; and the cliffs presented, for several hours, a sight that 
might have caused Niagara to hide her head in mortification. 
These sublime scenes are of frequent occurrence amid the sol- 
itudes of the earth; the occasional phenomena of nature 
often surpassing in sublimity and beauty her rarest continued 
efforts. 

The succeeding day the rain ceased, and summer appeared 
to have come in reality. It is true that at midday the ther- 
mome*ter in the shade stood at only forty-eight; but in the sun 
it actually rose to seventy. Let those who have ever experi- 
enced the extremes of heat and cold imagine the delight with 
which our sealers moved about under such a sun ! All excess 


448 


THE SEA LIONS. 


of clothing was thrown aside ; and many of the men actually 
pursued their work in their shirt-sleeves. 

As the snow had vanished quite as suddenly as it came, 
every thing and everybody was now in active motion. Not a 
man of the crew was disposed to run the risk of encountering 
any more cold on Sealer’s Land. Roswell himself was of opin- 
ion that the late severe weather was the dying effort of the 
winter, and that no more cold was to be expected ; and Stimson 
agreed with him in this notion. The sails were taken down 
from around the house, and those articles it was intended to 
carry away were transferred to the schooner as fast as the diffi- 
culties of the road would allow. While his mates were carry- 
ing on this duty, our young master took an early occasion to 
examine the state of matters generally on the island. With 
this view he ascended to the plain, and went half-way up the 
mountain, desiring to get a good look into the offing. 

It was soon ascertained that the recent deluge had swept all 
the ice and every trace of the dead into the sea. The body of 
Daggett had disappeared, with the snow-bank in which it had 
been buried ; and all the carcases of the seals had been washed 
away. In a word, the rocks were as naked and as clean as if 
man’s foot had never passed over them. From the facts that 
skeletons of seals had been found strewed along the north 
shore, and the present void, Roswell was led to infer that the 
late storm had been one of unusual intensity, and most prob- 
ably of a character to occur only at long intervals. 

But the state of the ice was the point of greatest interest. 
The schooner could now be got ready for sea in a week, and 
that easily ; but there she lay, imbedded in a field of ice that 
still covered nearly the whole of the waters within the group. 
As Roswell stood on the cliffs which overlooked the cove, he 
calculated the distance it would be necessary to take the 
schooner through the ice by sawing and cutting, and that 
through a field known to be some four feet thick, and five good 
miles at least. So Herculean did this task appear to be, that 


THE SEA LIONS. 


449 


he even thought of abandoning his vessel altogether, and of set- 
ting out in the boats, as soon as the summer was fairly com- 
menced. On reflection, however, this last plan was reserved as 
a dernier ressort, the danger of encountering the tempests of 
those seas in a whale-boat, without covering or fire, being much 
too great to be thought of, so long as any reasonable alterna- 
tive offered. 

The bergs to the southward were in motion, and a large fleet 
of them was putting to sea, as it might be, coming in from 
those remote and then unknown regions in which they were 
formed. From the mountain, our hero counted at least a hun- 
dred, all regularly shaped, with tops like that of table-land, 
and with even, regular sides, and upright attitudes. It was 
very desirable to get ahead of these new maritime Alps, for the 
ocean to the northward was unusually clear of ice of all kinds, 
that lodged between the islands excepted. 

So long as it was safe to calculate on the regular changes of 
the seasons, Roswell knew that patience and vigilance would 
serve his turn, by bringing every thing round in its proper time 
and place. But it was by no means certain that it was a usual 
occurrence for the Great Bay to be crammed with field-ice, as 
had happened the past winter; if the actual state of the sur- 
rounding waters were an exception instead of the rule. On 
examining the shores, however, it ■was found that the rain and 
melted snow had created a sort of margin, and that the strong 
winds which had been blowing, and which in fact were still 
blowing, had produced a gradually increasing attrition, until a 
space existed between the weather-side of the field and the 
rocks that was some thirty fathoms wide. This was an impor- 
tant discovery, and brought up a most grave question for de- 
cision. 

Owing to the shape of the surrounding land, it would not be 
possible for the ice to float out in a body, for two or three 
months to come ; or until so much had melted as to leave room 
for the field to pass the capes and headlands. It never could 


450 


THE SEA LIONS. 


have entered the bay for the same reason, but for the resistless 
power of a field that extended leagues out into the ocean, 
where, acted on jointly by wind and tide, it came down with a 
momentum that was resistless, ripping and tearing the edges of 
the field as if they had been so much freshly turned up mould. 
It was, then, a question how to get the schooner out of her 
present bed, and into clear water. 

The reader will probably remember that, on her first arrival 
at the group, the Sea Lion had entered the Great Bay from the 
southward ; while, in her subsequent effort to get north, she had 
gone out by the opposite passage. Now, it occurred to Ros- 
well that he might escape by the former of these routes more 
readily than by the latter, and for the following reasons : — No 
field-ice had ever blocked up the southern passage, which was 
now quite clear, though the approach to it just then was choked 
by the manner in which the northeast gale, that was still blow- 
ing, pressed home against the rocks the field that so nealy filled 
the bay. A shift of wind, however, must soon come ; and 
when that change occurred, it was certain that this field would 
move in an opposite direction, leaving the margin of open water, 
that has already been mentioned, all along the rocks. The 
distance was considerable, it is true — not less than fifteen miles 
— and the whole of it was to be made quite close to sharp an- 
gular rocks that would penetrete the schooner’s sides almost as 
readily as an axe, in the event of a nip ; but this danger might 
be avoided by foresight, and a timely attention to the necessi- 
ties of the case. Seeing no more available plan to get the 
vessel out of her present duresse, the mates came readily into 
this scheme, and preparations were made to carry it out. As 
the cove was so near the northeast end of Sealer’s Land, it may 
be well to explain that the reason this same mode of proceed- 
ing could not be carried out in a northern direction, w^as the 
breadth of the field seaward, and the danger of following the 
north shore when the solid ice did leave it, on account of the 
quantities of broken fragments that were tossing and churning 


THE SEA LIONS. 


451 


in its front, far as the eye could reach from the clifts them- 
selves. 


I 1 
I . 

I 

r 

I 

I: 

I 

i 


The third day after the commencement of the thaw, the wind 
came round again from the southwest, blowing heavily. As 
was expected, this soon began to set the field in motion, driving 
it over towards the volcano, and at the same time northerly. 
About six in the morning. Hazard brought a report to Roswell 
that a margin of open water was beginning to form all along 
under the cliffs, while there was great danger that the channel 
which had been cut from the schooner to the nearest point 
beneath the rocks, in readiness for this very contingency, might 
be closed by the pressure of the ice without, on that within the 
cove. No time was to be lost, therefore, if it was intended to 
move the craft on this shift of wind. The distance that had 
been sawed through to make the channel just named, did not 
exceed a hundred yards. The passage was not much wider than 
the schooner’s breadth ; and it will be easily understood that it 
was to the last degree important to carry her through this strait 
as soon as possible. Although many useful articles were scat- 
tered about on the ice, and several remained to be brought over 
the rocks from the house, the order was given to get out lines, 
and to move the vessel at once : the men set to work with 
hearty good-will, another glimpse of home rising before their 
imaginations ; and, in five minutes after Hazard had made his 
communication, the Sea Lion had gone six or eight times her 
length towards the cliffs. Then came the pinch ! Had not the 
ice been solid between the cape and the berth just before occu- 
pied by the schooner, she would have been hopelessly nipped 
by the closing of the artificial channel. As it was, she was 
caught, and her progress was arrested, but the field took a cant, 
in consequence of the resistance of the solid ice that filled the 
whole cove to the eastward of the channel ; and, before any 
damage was done, the latter began to open even faster than it 
had come together. The instant the craft was released, the 
sealers manned their hauling lines again, and ran her up to the 


452 


THE SEA LIONS. 


rocks with a hurrah ! The margin of water was just opening, 
but so prompt had been the movement of the men that it was 
not yet wide enough to permit the vessel to go any further ; 
and it was found necessary to wait until the passage was suffi- 
ciently wide to enable her to move ahead. The intervening time 
was occupied in bringing to the craft the articles left behind. 

By nine o’clock every thing was on board ; the winding 
channel that followed the sinuosities of the coast could be 
traced far as the eye could see ; the lines were manned ; and 
the word was again given to move. Roswell now felt that he 
was engaged in much the most delicate of all his duties. The 
desperate run through the fleet of bergs, and the second attempt 
to get to sea, were not in certain particulars as hazardous as 
this. The fleld had been setting back and forth now, for several 
weeks ; the margin of clear water increasing by the attrition at 
each return to the rocks ; and it was known by observation 
that these changes often occurred at very short notices. Should 
the wind haul round with the sun, or one of the unaccounta- 
ble currents of those seas intervene before the southeast cape 
was reached, the schooner would probably be broken into splin- 
ters, or ground into powder, in the course of some two or three 
hours. It was all-important, therefore, to lose not a moment. 

Several times in the course of the first hour, the movement 
of the schooner was arrested by the want of sufficient room to 
pass between projecting points in the cliffs and the edge of the 
ice. On two of these occasions passages were cut with the saw, 
the movement of the field not answering to the impatience of 
the sealers. At the end of that most momentous hour, how- 
ever, the craft had. been hauled ahead a mile and a half, and 
had reached a curvature in the coast where the margin of open 
water was more than fifty fathoms wide, and the tracking of the 
vessel became easy and rapid. By two o’clock the Sea Lion 
was at what might be called the bottom of the Great Bay, some 
three or four leagues from the cove, and at the place where the 
long low cape began to run out in a southeasterly direction. 


THE SEA LIONS. 


453 


As the wind could now be felt over the rocks, the foretopsail 
was set, as well as the lower sails, the latter being mainly be- 
calmed, however, by the land ; when the people were all taken 
on board, the craft moving faster under her canvas than by 
means of the hauling lines. The wind was very fresh, and in 
half an hour more the southeast cape came in sight, close 
as were the navigators to the rocks. Ten minutes later, the Sea 
Lion was under reefed sails, stretching oflf to the southward and 
eastward, in perfectly clear water ! 

At first, Roswell Gardiner was disposed to rejoice, under the 
impression that his greatest labor had been achieved. A better 
look at the state of things around him, how’ever, taught the 
disheartening lesson of humility, by demonstrating that they 
had in truth but just commenced. 

Although there was scarcely any field-ice to the southward 
of the group, and in its immediate neighborhood, there was a 
countless number of bergs. It is true, these floating mountains 
did not come very near the passage, for the depth of water just 
there usually brought them up ere they could get into it ; 
nevertheless, a large fleet of them was blockading the entire 
group, as far as the eye could reach, looking east, west, and 
south, or along the whole line of the southern coast. It w^as at 
first questionable whether, and soon after it became certain, that 
the schooner could never beat through such dangers. Had the 
wind been fair, the difliculty would have been insurmountable ; 
but ahead, and blowing a little gale, the matter was out of the 
question. Some other course must be adopted. 

There was a choice of alternatives. One was to go entirely 
round the whole group, passing to the eastward of the volcano, 
where no one of the party had ever been ; and the other was to 
follow the eastern margin of the bay, keeping inside of it, and 
trusting to finding some opening by which the schooner could 
force her way into clear water to the northward. After a very 
brief consultation with his mates, Roswell decided on attempt- 
ing the last. 


454 


THE SEA LIONS. 


As the course now to be steered was almost dead before the 
wind, the little craft, lightened of so much of her upper works, 
almost flew through the water. The great source of apprehen- 
sion felt by our young men in attempting this new expedient, 
was in the probability that the field would drift home to the 
rocks in the northeast quarter of the bay, which, with a south- 
west wind, was necessarily a quarter to leeward. Should this 
prove to be the case, it might be found impossible to pass 
ahead, and the schooner would be caught in a cul desac ; since 
it would not be in the power of her people to track her back 
again in the teeth of so strong a wind. Notwithstanding these 
probabilities, on Roswell went ; for he saw plain enough that 
at such a moment almost any thing was better than indecision. 

The rate at which the little craft was flying before a fresh 
gale, in perfectly smooth water, soon put our sealers in a better 
condition to form closer estimates of their chances. The look-- 
outs aloft, one of whom was Hazard, the first oflEicer, sent down 
on deck constant reports of what they could see. 

“How does it look ahead, now, Mr. Hazard?” demanded 
Roswell, about five in the afternoon, just as his schooner was 
coming close under the smoking sides of the volcano, which had 
always been an object of interest to him, though he had never 
found time to visit it before. “ Is there no danger of our touch- 
ing the ground, close in as we are to this island ?” 

“ I think not, sir ; when I landed here, we kept the lead 
going the whole time, and we got two fathoms quite up to the 
shore. In my judgment. Captain Gar’ner, we may run down 
along this land as bold as lions.” 

“ And how does i! look ahead ? I’ve no wish to get jammed 
here, close aboard of a volcano, which may be choking us all 
with its smoke before we know where we are.” 

“ Not much danger of that, sir, with this wind. These vol- 
canoes are nothin’ but playthings, a’ter all. The vapor is 
driving off towards the northeast — That was a crack, with a 
vengeance !” 


THE SEA LIONS. 


455 


; Just as Hazard was boasting of the innocuous character of a 
I volcano, that near them fired a gun, as the men afterwards 
called it, casting into the air a large flight of cinders and stones, 

I accompanied bv a sharp flash of flame. Ail the lighter ma- 
[ terials drove away to leeward, but the heavier followed the law 

j of projectiles, and scattered in all directions. Sevei’al stones of 

‘ some size fell quite close to the schooner, and a few smaller ac- 
tually came down on her decks. 

I “ It will never do to stop here to boil our pot,” cried Ros- 
j well to the mate. “ We must get away from this, Mr. Hazard, 
I as fast as the good craft can travel !” 

i “ Get away it is, sir. There is nothing very near ahead to 
; stop us ; though it does look more towards the east cape as if 
j the field was jammed in that quarter.” 

i “ Keep all your eyes about you, sir ; and look out especially 
I for any opening among the smaller islands ahead. I am not 
i- without hope that the currents which run among them may 
give us a clear passage in that quarter.” 

These words explain precisely that which did actually occur. 
On went the schooner, almost brushing the base of the volcano, 
causing Roswell many a bound of the heart, when he fancied 
she must strike ; but she went clear. All this time it was 
crack, crack, crack, from the crater, rumbling sounds and heavy 
explosions ; the last attended by flames, and smoke of a pitchy 
darkness. A dozen times the Sea Lion had very narrow escapes 
when nearest to the danger, stones of a weight to pass through 
her decks and bottom falling even on the ice outside of her ; 
but that Hand which had so benevolently stayed various other 
evils, was stretched forth to save, and nothing touched the 
schooner of a size to do any injury. These escapes made a 
deep impression on Roswell. Until the past winter he had been 
accustomed to look upon things and events as matters of course. 

■ . This vacant indifference, so common to men in prosperity, was 
extended even to the sublimest exhibition of the Almighty 
power ; our hero seeing nothing- in the firmament of heaven, of 

i 

! 

i 


456 


THE SEA LIONS. 


a clear night, but the twinkling lights that seemed to him to be 
placed thei’e merely to garnish and illumine the darkness of this 
globe. Now, how ditferently did he look upon natural objects, 
and their origin ! If it were only an insect, his mind presented 
its wonderful mechanism, its beauty, its uses. No star seemed 
less than what science has taught us that it is ; and the power 
of the Dread Being who had created all, Avho governed all, and 
who was judge of all, became an inseparable subject of contem- 
plation, as he looked upon the least of his works. Feelings 
dhus softened and tempered by humility, easily led their subject 
to the reception of those leading articles of the Christian faith 
which have been consecrated by the belief of the Church catho- 
lic since the ages of miraculous guidance, and which are now 
venerable by time. Bold and presuming is he who fancies 
that his intellect can rectify errors of this magnitude and an- 
tiquity, and that the Church of God has been permitted to 
wallow on in a most fatal idolatry for centuries, to be extricated 
by the pretending syllogisms of his one-sided and narrow phi- 
losophy ! 

The people of the Sea Lion were less affected by what they 
saw than their young commander. Their hearts were light 
with the prospect of a speedy release from the hardships and 
dangers they had undergone; and, at each explosion of the 
volcano, as soon as out of reach of the falling stones, they 
laughed, and asserted that the mountain was firing a salute in 
honor of their departure. Such is the difference between men 
whose hearts and spirits have submitted to the law of faith, and 
those who live on in the recklessness of the passing events of 
life. 

The schooner was racing past a rocky islet, beginning to 
haul more on a wind, as she made the circuit of the bay, just 
as Hazard came to the conclusion that the field had drifted 
home on the outer island of the group, and that it would be 
impossible to pass into clear water by going on. Turning his 
head in quest of some bay, or other secure place in which the 


THE SEA LIONS. 


457 


craft might wait tor a favorable change, he saw a narrow open- 
ing to leeward of the islet he had passed but a minute before ; 
and, so tar as he could perceive, one that led directly out to 
sea. 

It was too late to keep away for the entrance of the passage, 
the ice being too close at hand to leeward ; but, most fortu- 
nately, there was room to tack. A call to Roswell soon caused 
the schooner to be close on a wind ; down went her helm, and 
round she came like a top. Sail was shortened in stays, and by 
the time the little craft was ready to fall off for the passage, 
she had nothing on her but a fore-topsail, jib, and a close-reefed 
mainsail. Under this canvas she glided along, almost brushing 
the rocks of the islet, but without touching. In twenty min- 
utes more she was clear of the gToup altogether, and in open 
water. 

That night some embarrassment was encountered from broken 
field-ice, of which the ocean was pretty full ; but by exercising 
great vigilance, no serious thump occurred. Fortunately the 
period of dai-kness was quite short, the twilight being of great 
length, both mornings and evenings ; and the reappearance of 
the sun cast a cheerful glow on the face of the troubled waters. 

The wind held at southwest for three days, blowing heavily 
the whole time. By the second night-fall the sea was clear of 
ice, and every thing was carried on the schooner that she could 
bear. About nine o’clock on the morning of the fourth day 
out, a speck was seen rising above the ragged outline of the 
rolling waves ; and each minute it became higher and more 
distinct. An hour or two later, the Sea Lion was staggering 
along before a westerly gale, with the Hermit of Cape Horn on 
her larboard beam, distant three leagues. How many trying 
scenes and bitter moments crowded on the mind of young Ros- 
well Gardiner as he recalled all that had passed in the ten 
months which intervened since he had come out from behind 
the shelter of those wild rocks ! Stormy as was that sea, and 
terrible as was its name among mariners, coming, as he did, 

20 


458 


THE SEA LIONS. 


from one still more stormy and terrible, he now regarded it as 
a sort of place of refuge. A winter there he well knew would 
be no trifling undertaking ; but he had just passed a winter in 
a region where even fuel was not to be found, unless carried 
there. Twenty days later the Sea Lion sailed again from Rio, 
having sold all the sea-elephant oil that remained, and bought 
stores ; of which, by this time, the vessel was much in want. 
Most of the portions of the provisions that were left had been 
damaged by the thawing process ; and food was getting to be 
absolutely necessary to her people, when the schooner went 
again into the noble harbor of the capital of Brazil. Then sue- t 
ceeded the lassitude and calms that reign about the imaginary I 
line that marks the circuit of the earth, at that point which is ' 
ever central as regards the sun, and where the days and nights « 
are always equal. No inclination of the earth’s axis to the 
plane of its orbit affected the climate there, which knew not 
the distinctions of summer and winter ; or which, if they did 
exist at all, were so faintly marked as to be nearly imper- 
ceptible. 

Twenty days later the schooner was standing among some 
low sandy keys, under short canvas, and in the southeast 
trades. By her movements, an anchorage was sought; and 
one was found at last, where the craft was brought up, boats 
were hoisted out, and Roswell Gardiner landed. 


THE SEA LIONS. 


459 


CHAPTER XXIX. 

“ If every ducat in six thousand ducats 
Were in six parts, and every part a ducat, 

I would not draw them ; I would have my bond.” 

Shakespeabe. 

The earth had not stopped in its swift race around the sun 
at Oyster Pond, while all these events were in the course of 
occurrence in the antarctic seas. The summer had passed, 
that summer which was to have brought back the sealers ; and 
autumn had come to chill the hopes as well as the body. 
Winter did not bring any change. Nothing was heard of Ros- 
well and his companions, nor could any thing have been heard 
of them short of the intervention of a miracle. 

Mary Pratt no longer mentioned Roswell in her prayers. 
She fully believed him to be dead ; and her puritanical creed 
taught her that this, the sweetest and most endearing of all 
the rites of Christianity, was allied to a belief that it was sac- 
rilege to entertain. We pretend not to any distinct impres- 
sions on this subject ourselves, beyond a sturdy Protestant dis- 
inclination to put any faith in the abuses of purgatory at least ; 
but most devoutly do we wish that such petitions could have 
the efficacy that so large a portion of the Christian world im- 
pute to them. But Mary Pratt, so much better than we can 
lay any claim to be in all essentials, was less liberal than our- 
selves on this great point of doctrine. Roswell Gardiner’s 
name now never passed her lips in prayer, therefore, though 
scarce a minute went by without his manly person being 
present to her imagination. He still lived in her heart, a 
shiine from which she made no effort to expel him. 

As for the deacon, age, disease, and distress of mind had 


460 


THE SEA LIONS. 


bronght him to his last hours. The passions which had so en- 
grossed him when in health, now turned upon his nature, and 
preyed upon his vitals, like an ill-omened bird. It is more 
than probable that he would have lived some months, possibly 
some years longer, had not the evil spirit of covetousness 
conspired to heighten the malady that wasted his physical 
frame. As it was, the sands of life were running low ; and the 
skilful Doctor Sage, himself, had admitted to Mary the im- 
probability that her uncle and protector could long survive. 

It is wonderful how the interest in a rich man suddenly re- 
vives among his relatives and possibly heirs, as his last hour 
draws near. Deacon Pratt was known to be wealthy in a 
small way ; was thought to possess his thirty or forty thousand 
dollars, which was regarded as wealth among the east-enders 
thirty years since; and every human being in Old Suffolk, 
whether of its overwhelming majority or of its more select and 
wiser minority, who could by legal possibility claim any right 
to be remembered by the dying man, crowded around his bed- 
side. At that moment Mary Pratt, who had so long nursed his 
diseases and mitigated his sufferings, was compelled to appear 
as a very insignificant and secondary person. Others who 
stood in the same degree of consanguinity to the dying man, 
and two, a brother and sister, who were even one degree closer, 
had their claims, and w^ere by no means disposed to suffer 
them to be forgotten. Gladly would poor Mary have prayed 
by her uncle’s bedside ; but Parson Whittle had assumed this 
solemn duty, it being deemed proper that one who had so long 
filled the office of deacon, should depart with a proper atten- 
tion to the usages of his meeting. Some of the relatives who 
had lately appeared, and who were not so- conversant with the 
state of things between the deacon and his divine, complained 
among themselves that the latter made too many ill-timed allu- 
sions to the pecuniary wants of the congregation ; and that he 
had, in particular, almost as much as asked the deacon to 
make a legacy that would enable those who were to stay be- 


THE SEA LIONS. 


461 


! hind to paint the meeting-house, erect a new horse-shed, pur- 
I chase some improved stoves, and reseat the body of the build- 
; ing. These modest requests, it was whispered — for all passed 
l; in whispers then — would consume not less than a thousand 
i dollars of the deacon’s hard earnings ; and the thing was men- 
I tioned as a wrong done him who was about to descend into 
the grave, where naught of earth could avail him in any way. 

I Close was the siege that was laid to Deacon Pratt during the 
last week of his life. Many were the hints given of the neces- 
sity of his making a will, though the brother and sister, esti- 
. mating their rights as the law established them, said but little 
on the subject, and that little was rather against the propriety 
of annoying a man, in their brother’s condition, with business 
of so perplexing a nature. The fact that these important per- 
sonages set their faces against the scheme had due weight, and 
most of the relatives began to calculate the probable amount of 
their respective shares under the law of distribution, as it stood 
in that day. This excellent and surpassingly wise community 
of New York had not then reached the pass of exceeding lib- 
erality towards which it is now so rapidly tending. In that 
day, the debtor was not yet thought of, as the creditor’s next 
heir, and that plausible and impracticable desire of a false phi- 
lanthropy, which is termed the Homestead Exemption Law — 
impracticable as to any thing like a just and equitable exemption 
of equal amount in all cases of indebtedness — was not yet 
dreamed of. New York was then a sound and healthful com- 
munity ; making its mistakes, doubtless, as men ever will err ; 
but the control of things had not yet passed into the hands of 
sheer political empirics, whose ignorance and quackery were 
stimulated by the lowest passion for majorities. Among other 
things that were then respected, were wills ; but it was not 
known to a single individual, among all those who thronged the 
dwelling of Deacon Pratt, that the dying man had ever mus- 
tered the self-command necessary to make such an instrument. 
He was free to act, but did not choose to avail himself of his 


462 


THE SEA LIONS. 


freedom. Had he survived a few years, he would have found 
himself in the enjoyment of a liberty so sublimated, that he 
could not lease, or rent a farm, or collect a common debt, 
without coming under the harrow of the tiller of the political 
soil. 

The season had advanced to the early part of April, and that 
is usually a soft and balmy month on the sea-shore, though 
liable to considerable and sudden changes of temperature. On 
the day to which we now desire to transfer the scene, the win- 
dows of the deacon’s bedroom were open, and the soft south 
wind fanned his hollow and pallid cheek. Death was near, 
though the principle of life struggled hard with the King of 
Terrors. It was now that that bewildered and Pharisaical faith 
which had so long held this professor of religion in a bondage 
even more oppressive than open and announced sins, most felt 
the insufficiency of the creed in which he had rather been 
speculating than trusting all his life, to render the passing hour 
composed and secure. There had always been too much of self 
in Deacon Pratt’s moral temperament, to render his belief as 
humble and devout as it should be. It availed him not a hair, 
now, that he was a deacon, or that he had made long prayers 
in the market-places, where men could see him, or that he had 
done so much, as he was wont to proclaim, for example’s sake. 
All had not sufficed to cleanse his heart of worldly-mindedness, 
and he now groped about him, in the darkness of a faith ob- 
scured, for the true light that was to illume his path to another 
world. ■ 

The doctor had ordered the room cleared of all but two or 
three of the dying man’s nearest relatives. Among these last, 
however, was the gentle and tender-hearted Mary, who loved to 
be near her uncle, in this his greatest need. She no longer 
thought of his covetousness, of his griping usury, of his living 
so much for self and so little for God. While hovering about 
the bed, a message reached her that Baiting Joe wished to see 
her, in the passage that led to the bedroom. She went to this 


THE SEA LIONS. 


463 


old fisherman, and found him standing near a window that 
looked towards the east, and which consequently faced the 
^ waters of Gardiner’s Bay. 

j “ There she is. Miss Mary,” said Joe, pointing out of the win- 
I dow, his whole face* in a glow, between joy and whiskey. “It 
^ should be told to the deacon at once, that his last hours might 
' be happier than some that he has passed lately. That’s she — 

; though, at first, I did not know her.” 

Mary saw a vessel standing in towards Oyster Pond, and her 
familiarity with objects of that nature was such, as to tell her 
at once that it was a schooner; but so completely had she 
given up the Sea Lion, that it did not occur to her that this 
could be the long-missing craft. 

“ At what are you pointing, Joe ?” the wondering girl asked, 
with perfect innocence. 

“ At that craft — at the Sea Lion of Sterling, which has been 
so long set down as missing, but which has turned up, just as 
her owner is about to cast off from this ’arth, altogether.” 

Joe might have talked for an hour : he did chatter away for 
two or three minutes, with his head and half his body out of 
the window, uninterrupted by Mary, who sank into a chair, to 
prevent falling on the floor. At length the dear girl com- 
manded herself, and spoke. 

“You cannot possibly be certain, Joe,” she said; “that 
schooner does not look, to me, like the Sea Lion.” 

“Nor to me, in some things, while in other some she does. 
Her upper works seem strangely out of shape, and there’s pre- 
cious little on ’em. But no other fore-taw-sail schooner ever 
comes in this-a-way, and I know of none likely to do it. Ay, 
by Jupiter, there goes the very blue peter I helped to make 
with my own hands, and it was agreed to set it, as the deacon’s 
signal. There’s no mistake, now !” 

Joe might have talked half an hour longer without any fear 
of interruption, for Mary had vanished to her own room, leav- 
ing him with his head and body still out of the window, making 


464 


THE SEA LIONS. 


1 

.1 

I 

\ 

his strictures and conjectures for some time longer ; while the , 
person to whom he fancied he was speaking, was, in truth, on 
her knees, rendering thanks to God ! An hour later, all doubt , 
was removed, the schooner coming in between Oyster Pond 
and Shelter Island, and making the best of her way to the 
well-known wharf. 

“ Isn’t it wonderful, Mary,” exclaimed the deacon, in a hol- 
low voice, it is true, but with an animation and force that did 
not appear to have any immediate connection with death — 

“ isn’t it wonderful that Gar’ner should come back, a’ter all ! 

If he has only done his duty by me, this will be the greatest 
ventur’ of my whole life ; it will make the evening of my days 
comfortable. I hope I’ve always been grateful for blessings, 
and I’m sure I’m grateful, from the bottom of my heart, for 
this. Give me prosperity, and I’m not apt to forget it. They’ve 
been asking me to make a will, but I told ’em I was too poor 
to think of any such thing ; and, now my schooner has got 
back, I s’pose I shall get more hints of the same sort. Should 
any thing happen to me, Mary, you can bring out the sealed 
paper I gave you to keep, and that must satisfy ’em all. You’ll 
remember, it is addressed to Gar’ner. There isn’t much in it, 
and it won’t be much thought of, I fancy ; but, such as it is, 

’tis the last instrument I sign, unless I get better. To think of 
Gar’ner’s coming back, a’ter all ! It has put new life in me, 
and I shall be about, ag’in, in a week, if he has only not forgot- 
ten the key, and the hidden treasure !” 

Mary Pratt’s heart had not been so light for many a weary 
day, but it grieved her to be a witness of this lingering longing 
after the things of the world. She knew that not only her 
uncle’s days, but that his very hours, were numbered; and 
that, notwithstanding this momentary flickering of the lamp, in 
consequence of fresh oil being poured into it, the wuck was 
nearly consumed, and that it must shortly go out, let Roswell’s 
success be what it might. The news of the sudden and un- 
looked-for return of a vessel so long believed to be lost, spread 


THE SEA LIONS. 


465 


like wildfire over the whole Point, and greatly did it increase 
the interest of the relatives in the condition of the dving man. 
If he was a subject of great concern before, doubly did he be- 
come so now. A vessel freighted with furs would have caused 
much excitement of itself; but, by some means or other, the 
deacon’s great secret of the buried treasure had leaked out, 
most probably by means of some of his lamentations during his 
illness, and, though but imperfectly known, it added largely to 
the expectations connected with the unlooked-for return of the 
schooner. In short, it would not have been easy to devise a 
circumstance that should serve to increase the liveliness of feel- 
ing that, just then, prevailed on the subject of Deacon Pratt 
and his assets, than the arrival of the Sea Lion, at that precise 
moment. 

And arrive she did, that tempest-tossed, crippled, ice-bound, 
and half- burned little craft, after roaming over an extent of 
ocean that would have made up half-a-dozen ordinary sea voy- 
ages. It was, in truth, the schooner so well known to the 
reader, that was now settling away her mainsail and jib, as she 
kept off, under her foretopsail alone, towards the wharf, on 
which every human being who could, with any show of pro- 
priety, be there at such a moment, was now collected, in a 
curious and excited crowd. Altogether, including boys and 
females, there must have been not less than a hundred persons 
on that wharf ; and among them were most of the anxious rel- 
atives who were in attendance on the vessel’s owner, in his last 
hours. By a transition that was natural enough, perhaps, un- 
der the circumstances, they had transferred their interest in the 
deacon to this schooner, which they looked upon as an inani- 
mate portion of an investment that would soon have little that 
was animate about it. 

Baiting Joe was a sort of oracle, in such circumstances. He 
had passed his youth at sea, having often doubled the Horn, 
and was known to possess a very respectable amount of knowl- 
edge on the subject of vessels of all sorts and sizes, rig and qual- 

20 ^ 


466 


THE SEA LIONS. 


ities. He was now consulted by all who could get near him, 
as a matter of course, and his opinions were received as res ad- 
judicata^ as the lawyers have it. 

“ That’s the boat,” said Joe, affecting to call the Sea Lion by 
a diminutive, as a proof of regard ; “yes, that’s the craft, her- 
self ; but she is wonderfully deep in the water ! I never seed 
a schooner of her tonnage, come in from a v’y’ge, with her 
scuppers so near a-wash. Don’t you think, Jim, there must be 
suthin’ heavier than skins, in her hold, to bring her down so 
low in the water ?” 

Jim was another loafer, who lived by taking clams, oysters, 
fish, and the other treasures of the surrounding bays. He was 
by no means as high authority as Baiting Joe ; still he was al- 
ways authority on a wharf. 

“ I never seed the like on’t,” answered Jim. “ That schooner 
must ha’ made most of her passage under water. She’s as deep 
as one of our coasters cornin’ in with a load of brick !” 

“ She’s deep ; but not as deep as a craft I once made a 
cruise in. I was aboard of the first of Uncle Sam’s gunboats, 
that crossed the pond to Gibraltar. When we got in, it made 
the Mediterranean stare, I can tell you ! We had furrin offi- 
cers aboard us, the whull time, lookin’ about, and wonderin’, as 
they called it, if we wasn’t amphibbies.” 

“ What’s that ?” demanded Jim, rather hastily. “ There’s no 
sich rope in the ship.” 

“ I know that well enough ; but an amphibby, as I under- 
stand it, is a new sort of whale, that comes up to breathe, like 
all of that family, as old Dr. Mitchell, of Cow Neck, calls the 
critturs. So the furrin officers thought we must be of the am- 
phibby family, to live so much under water, as it seemed to 
them. It was wet work, I can tell you, boys ; I don’t think I 
got a good breath more than once an hour, the whull of the 
first day we was out. One of the furrin officers asked our cap- 
tain how the gunboat steered. He wasn’t a captain, at all — 
only a master, you see, and we all called him Jumpin’ Billy. 


THE SEA LIONS. 


46V 


So Jumpin’ Billy says, ‘ Don’t know, sir.’ ‘ What ! crossed the 
Atlantic in her, and don’t know how your craft steers !’ says 
the lurrin officer, says he — and well he might, Jim, since nothin’ 
that ever lived could go from Norfolk to Gibraltar, without 
some attention to the helm — but Jumpin’ Billy had another 
story to tell. ‘ No, sir ; don’t know,’ he answered. ‘ You 
see, sir, a nor-wester took us right aft, as we cleared the 
capes, and down she dove, with her nose under and her starn 
out, and she came across without having a chance to try the 
rudder.’ ” 

This story, which Joe had told at least a hundred times be- 
fore, and which, by the way, is said to be true, produced the 
usual admiration, especially among the crowd of legatees-ex- 
pectant, to most of whom it was quite new. When the laugh 
went out, which it soon did of itself, Joe pursued a subject that 
was of more interest to most of his auditors, or rather to the 
principal personages among them. 

“ Skins never brought a craft so low, that you may be sar- 
tain of!” he resumed. “I’ve seed all sorts of vessels stowed, 
but a hundred press-screws couldn’t cram in furs enough to 
bring a craft so low ! To my eye, Jim, there’s suthin’ unnat’ral 
about that schooner, a’ter all.” 

The study is scarce worthy of a diploma, but we will take 
this occasion to say, for the benefit of certain foreign wri- 
ters, principally of the female sex, who fancy they represent 
Americanisms, that the vulgar of the great republic, and it is 
admitted there are enough of the class, never say “ summat” or 
“ somethink,” which are low English, but not low American, 
dialect. The in-and-in Yankee says “ suth-in.” In a hundred 
other words have these ambitious ladies done injustice to our 
vulgar, who are not vulgar, according to the laws of Cockayne, 
in the smallest degree. “ The Broadway,” for instance, is no 
more used by an American than “ the Congress,” or “ the 
United States of North America.” 

“ Perhaps,” answered Jim, “ ’tisn’t the Sea Lion, a’ter all. 


468 


THE SEA LIONS. 


There’s a family look about all the craft some men build, and 
this may be a sort of relation of our missin’ schooner.” 

“ I’ll not answer for the craft, though that’s her blue peter, 
and them’s her mast-heads, and I turned in that taw-sail hal- 
yard-block with my own hands. I’ll tell you what, Jim, 
there’s been a wrack, or a nip, up yonder, among the ice, and 
this schooner has been built anew out of that there schooner. 
You see if it don’t turn out as I tell you. Ay, and there’s Ci’p- 
tain Gar’ner, himself, alive and well, just cornin’ forrard.” 

A little girl started with this news, and was soon pouring it 
into the willing ears and open heart of the weeping and grateful 
Mary. An hour later, Roswell held the latter in his arms ; for 
at such a moment, it was not possible for the most scrupulous 
of the sex to affect coldness and reserve, where there was so 
much real tenderness and love. While folding Mary to his 
heart, Roswell whispered in her ears the blessed words that an- 
nounced his own humble submission to the faith which ac- 
cepted Christ as the Son of God. Too well did the gentle and 
ingenuous girl understand the sincerity and frankness of her 
lover’s nature, to doubt what he said, or in any manner to dis- 
trust the motive. That moment was the happiest of her short 
and innocent life ! 

But the welcome tidings had reached the deacon, and ere 
Roswell had an opportunity of making any other explanations 
but those which assured Mary that he had come back all that 
she wished him to be, both of them were summoned to the 
bedside of the dying man. The effect of the excitement on 
the deacon was so very great as almost to persuade the expect- 
ant legatees that their visit was premature, and that they might 
return home, to renew it at some future day. It is painful to 
find it our duty to draw sketches that shall contain such pic- 
tures of human nature ; but with what justice could we repre- 
sent the loathsome likeness of covetousness, hoveriiiir over a 
grave, and omit the resemblances of those who surrounded it ? 
Mary Pratt, alone, of all that extensive family connection, felt 


THE SEA IlONS. 


469 


and thought as Christianity, and womanly affection, and reason, 
dictated. All the rest saw nothing but the possessor of a con- 
siderable property, who was about to depart for that unknown 
world, into which nothing could be taken from this, but the 
divine and abused spirit which had been fashioned in the like- 
ness of God. 

“ Welcome, Gar’ner — welcome home, ag’in !” exclaimed the 
deacon, so heartily as quite to deceive the young man as to the 
real condition of his owner ; a mistake that was, perhaps, a lit- 
tle unfortunate, as it induced him to be more frank than might 
otherwise have been the case. “ I couldn’t find it in my heart 
to give you up, and have, all along, believed that we should yet 
have good new's from you. The Gar’ners are a reliable family, 
and that was one reason why I chose you to command my 
schooner. Them Daggetts are a torment, but we never should 
have known any thing about the islands, or the key, hadn’t it 
been for one on ’em.” 

As the deacon stopped to breathe, Mary turned away from 
the bed, grieved at heart to see the longings of the world thus 
clinging to the spirit of one who probably had not another 
hour to live. The glazed but animated eye, a cheek which re- 
sembled a faded leaf of the maple laid on a cold and whitish 
stone, and lips that had already begun to recede from the 
teeth, made a sad, sad picture, truly, to look upon at such a 
moment ; yet, of all present, Mary Pratt alone felt the fulness of 
the incongruity, and alone bethought her of the unreasonable- 
ness of encouraging feelings like those which were now upper- 
most in the deacon’s breast. Even Minister Whittle had a 
curiosity to know how much was added to the sum-total of 
Deacon Pratt’s assets by the return of a craft that had so long 
been set down among the missing. When all eyes, therefore, 
were turned in curiosity on the handsome face of the fine 
manly youth who now stood at the bedside of the deacon, in- 
cluding those of brother and sister, of nephews and nieces, of 
cousins and friends, those of this servant of the most high God 


470 


THE SEA LIONS. 


was of the number, and not the least expressive of solicitude 
and expectation. As soon as the deacon had caught a little 
breath, and had swallowed a restorative that the hired nurse 
had handed to him, his eager thoughts reverted to the one en- 
grossing theme of his whole life. 

“ These are all friends, Gar’ner,” he said ; “ come to visit me 
in a little sickness that I’ve been somewhat subject to of late, 
and who will all be glad to hear of our good fortune. So 
you’ve brought the schooner back, a’ter all, Gar’ner, and will 
disapp’int the Sag Harbor shipowners, who have been all 
along foretelling that we should never see her ag’in : — brought 
her back — ha ! Gar’ner ?” 

“ Only in part. Deacon Pratt. We have had good luck and 
bad luck since we left you, and have only brought home the 
best part of the craft.” 

“ The best part !” said the deacon, gulping his words in a 
way that compelled him to pause ; “ the best part ! What, in 
the name of property, has become of the rest ?” 

“ The rest was burned, sir, to keep us from freezing to 
death.” Roswell then gave a brief but very clear and intelligi- 
ble account of what had happened, and of the manner in which 
he had caused the hulk of the ‘deacon’s Sea Lion to be raised 
upon by the materials furnished by the Sea Lion of the Vine- 
yard. The narrative brought Mary Pratt back to the side 
of the bed, and caused her calm eyes to become riveted intently 
on the speaker’s face. As for the deacon, he might have said, 
with Shakspeare’s Wolsey : 

“ Had I but served my God with half the zeal 
I served my king, he would not, in mine age. 

Have left me naked to mine enemies.” 

His fall was not that of a loss of power, it is true, but it was 
that of a still more ignoble passion — covetousness. As Ros- 
well proceeded, his mind represented one source of wealth 
after another released from his clutch, until it was with a trem- 
ulous voice, and a countenance from which all traces of anima- 
tion had fled, that he ventured again to speak. 


THE SEA LIONS. 


471 


“ Then I may look upon my ventur’ as worse than nothing ?” 
he said. “The insurers will raise a question about paying for 
a craft that has been rebuilt in this way, and the Vineyard folks 
will be sartain to put in a claim of salvage, both on account of 
two of their hands helping you with the work, and on account 
of the materials — and we with no cargo, as an offset to it all !” 

“ No, deacon, it is not quite so bad as that,” resumed Ros- 
well. “We have brought home a good lot of skins; enough 
to pay the people full wages, and to return you every cent of 
outfit, with a handsome advance on the \enture. A sealer 
usually makes a good business of it, if she falls in with seals. 
Our cargo in skins can’t be worth less than $20,000; besides 
half a freight left on the island, for which another craft may be 
sent.” 

“ That is suthin’, the Lord be praised !” ejaculated the dea- 
con. “ Though the schooner is as bad as gone, and the outlays 
have been awfully heavy ; I’m almost afraid to go any further. 
Gar’ner, — did you — I grow weak very fast — did you stop — 
Mary, I wish you would put the question.” 

“ I am afraid that my uncle means to ask if you stopped at 
the Key, in the West Indies, according to your instructions, 
Roswell ?” the niece said, and most reluctantly ; for she plainly 
saw it was fully time her uncle ceased to think of the things of 
this life, and to begin to turn all his thoughts on the blessed 
mediation, and another state of being. 

“ I forgot no part of your orders, sir,” rejoined Roswell. “ It 
was my duty to obey them, and I believe I have done so to the 
letter — ” 

“ Stop, Gar’ner,” interrupted the dying man — “ one question, 
while I think of it. Will the Vineyard men have any claim of 
salvage on account of them skins ?” 

“Certainly not, sir. These skins are all our own — were 
taken, cured, stowed, and brought home altogether by our- 
selves. There is a lot of skins belonging to the Vineyarders 
stowed away in the house, which is yours, deacon, and which 


THE SEA LIONS. 


r.‘ 

472 

it would well pay any small craft to go and bring away. If 
anybody is to claim salvage, it will be ourselves. No salvage 
was demanded for tbe loss off Cape Henlopen, I trust 

“No, none — Daggett behaved what I call liberal in that 
affair,” — half the critics of the day would use the adjective in- 
stead of the adverb here, and why should Deacon Pratt’s Eng- 
lish be any better than his neighbors ? — “ and so I have admit- 
ted to his friends over on the Vineyard. But, Gar’ner, our 
great affair still remains to be accounted for. Do you wish to 
have the room cleared before you speak of that — shall we turn 
the key on all these folks, and then settle accounts? — he! 
he! he!” 

The deacon’s facetiousness sounded strangely out of place to 
Roswell ; still, he did not exactly know how to gainsay his wishes. 
There might be an indiscretion in pursuing his narrative before 
so many witnesses, and the young man paused until the 
room was cleared, leaving no one in it but the sick man, Mary, 
himself, and the nurse. The last could not well be gotten rid 
of on Oyster Pond, where her office gave her an assumed right 
to know all family secrets ; or, what was the same thing to her, 
to fancy that she knew them. Among all the sayings which 
the experience of mankind has reduced to axioms, there is not 
one more just than that which says, “ There are secrets in all 
families.” These secrets the world commonly affects to know 
all about ; but we think few will have reached the age of three- 
score without becoming convinced of how much pretending 
ignorance there is in this assumption of the world. ‘‘'"Tot ou 
tard tout se scaitf is a significant saying of our old friends, the 
French, who know as much of things in practice as any other 
people on the face of the earth ; but “ tot ou tard tout ne se 
scait pas^ 

“ Is the door shut ?” asked the deacon, tremulously, for eager- 
ness united to debility was sadly shaking his whole frame. 
“ Sec that the door is shut tight, Mary ; this is our own secret, 
and nurse must remember that.” 


THE SEA LIONS. 


473 


Mary assured him that they were alone, and turned away in 
sorrow from the bed. 

“ Now, Gar’ner,” resumed the deacon, “ open your whole 
heart, and let us know all about it.” 

Roswell hesitated to reply ; for he, too, was shocked at witness- 
ing this instance of a soul’s clinging to mammon when on the 
very eve of departing for the unknown world. There was a 
look in the glazed and sunken eyes of the old man that re- 
minded him unpleasantly of that snapping of the eyes which 
he had so often seen in Daggett. 

“ You didn’t forget the key, surely, Gar’ner ?” asked the dea- 
con, anxiously. 

“ No, sir ; we did our whole duty by that part of the voyage.” 

“ Did you find it — was the place accurately described ?” 

“ No chart could have made it better. We lost a month in 
looking for the piincipal land-mark, which had been altered 
by the weather ; but that once found, the rest was easy. The 
difficulty we met with in starting has brought us home so late 
in the spring.” 

“Never mind the spring, Gar’ner; the part that is past is 
sartain to come round ag’in, in due time. And so you found 
the very key that was described by Daggett ?” 

“We did, sir ; and just where he described it to be.” 

“ And how about the tree, and the little hillock of sand at 
its foot ?” 

“ Both were there, deacon. The hillock must have grown a 
good deal, by reason of the shifting sand ; but, all things con- 
sidered, the place was well enough described.” 

“ Well — well — well — you opened the hillock, of course ?” 

“ We did, sir ; and found the box mentioned by the pirate.” 

“ A good large box, I’ll warrant ye ! Them pirates seldom 
do things by halves — he ! he ! he !” 

“ I can’t say much for the size of the box, deacon — it looked 
to me as if it had once held window-glass, and that of rather 
small dimensions.” 


474 


THE SEA LIONS. 


“ But, the contents — you do not mention the contents.” j 

“ They are here, sir,” taking a small bag from his pocket, , 
and laying it on the bed, by the deacon’s side. “The pieces 
are all of gold, and there are just one hundred and forty-three ' 
of them. — Heavy doubloons, it is true, and I dare say well worth 
their sixteen dollars each.” 

The deacon gave a gulp, as if gasping for breath, at the same 
time that he clutched the bag. The next instant he was dead ; 
and there is much reason to believe that the demons who had ^ 
watched him, and encouraged him in his besetting sin, laughed | 
at this consummation of their malignant arts ! If angels in ; 
heaven did not mourn at this characteristic departure of a frail 
spirit from its earthly tenement, one who had many of their 
qualities did. Heavy had been the load on Mary Pratt’s heart, 
at the previous display of her uncle’s weakness, and profound 
was now her grief at his having made such an end. 


THE SEA LIONS. 


475 


CHAPTER XXX. 

Wi at. We’!! hear the will : Read it, Mark Antony. 

at. The will, the will ; we will hear Caesar’s will. 

Ant. Have patience, gentle friends, I must not read it; 

It is not meet you know how Caesar loved you. 

Julius C^ab. 

There is usually great haste, in this country, in getting rid of 
the dead. In no other part of the world, with which we are 
acquainted, are funerals so simple, or so touching ; placing the 
judgment and sins which lead to it, in a far more conspicuous 
light than rank, or riches, or personal merits. Scarfs and gloves 
are given in town, and gloves in the country, though scarfs are 
rare ; but, beyond these, and the pall, and the hearse, and the 
weeping friends, an American funeral is a very unpretending 
procession of persons in their best attire ; on foot, when the dis- 
tance is short ; in carriages, in wagons, and on horseback, when 
the grave is far from the dwelling. There is, however, one 
feature connected with a death in this country, that we could 
gladly see altered. It is the almost indecent haste, which so 
generally prevails, to get rid of the dead. Doubtless the cli- 
mate has had an effect in establishing this custom ; but the 
climate, by no means, exacts the precipitancy that is usually 
practised. 

As there were so many friends from a distance present, some 
of whom took the control of affairs, Mary shrinking back into 
herself, with a timidity natural to her sex and years, the mo- 
ment her care could no longer serve her uncle, the funeral of 
the deacon took place the day after that of his death. It was 
the solemn and simple ceremony of the country. The Rev. Mr. 
Whittle conceived that he ought to preach a sermon on the 


476 


THE SEA LIONS. 


occasion of the extinguishment of this “bright and shining 
light,” and the body was carried to the meeting-house, where 
the whole congregation assembled, it being the Sabbath. We 
cannot say much for the discourse, which had already served as 
eulogiums on two or three other deacons, with a simple substi- 
tution of names. In few things are the credulous more imposed 
on than in this article of sermons. A clergyman shall preach 
the workings of other men’s brains for years, and not one of his 
hearers detect the imposition, purely on account of the con- 
fiding credit it is customary to yield to the pulpit. In this re- 
spect, preaching is very much like reviewing, — the listener, or 
the reader, being too complaisant to see through the great 
standing mystifications of either. Yet preaching is a work of 
high importance to men, and one that doubtless accomplishes 
great good, more especially when the life of the preacher cor- 
responds with his doctrine ; and even reviewing, though infi- 
nitely of less moment, might be made a very useful art, in the 
hands of upright, independent, intelligent, and learned men. 
But nothing in this world is as it should be, and centuries 
will probably roll over it ere the “ good time” shall really 
come ! 

The day of the funeral being the Sabbath, nothing that 
touched on business was referred to. On the following morn- 
ing, however, “ the friends” assembled early in the parlor, and 
an excuse for being a little pressing was made, on the ground 
that so many present had so far to go. The deacon had proba- 
bly made a remove much more distant than any that awaited 
his relatives. 

“ It is right to look a little into the deacon’s matters before 
we separate,” said Mr. Job Pratt, who, if he had the name, had 
not the patience of him of old, “ in order to save trouble and 
hard feelings. Among relatives and friends there should be 
nothing but confidence and affection, and I am sure I have no 
other sentiments towards any here. I suppose” — all Mr. Job 
Pratt knew, was ever on a supposition — “ I suppose I am the 


THE SEA LIONS. 


411 

proper person to administer to the deacon’s property, though 
I don’t wish to do it, if there’s the least objection.” 

Every one assented that he was the most proper person, for 
all knew he was the individual the surrogate would be the most 
likely to appoint. 

“ I have never set down the deacon’s property as any thing 
like what common report makes it,” resumed Mr. Job Pratt ; 
“ though I do suppose it will fully reach ten thousand dollars.” 

“ La !” exclaimed a female cousin, and a widow, who had 
expectations of her own, “ I’d always thought Deacon Pratt 
worth forty or fifty thousand dollars ! Ten thousand dollars 
won’t make much for each of us, divided up among so many 
folks !” 

“ The division will not be so very great, Mrs. Martin,” re- 
turned Mr. Job, “ as it will be confined to the next of kin and 
their representatives. Unless a will should be found — and, by 
all I can learn, there is wowe” — emphasizing the last word with 
point — “ unless a will be found, the whole estate, real and per- 
sonal, must be divided into just five shares ; which, accordin’ to 
my calculation, would make about two thousand dollars a 
share. No great fortin, to be sure ; though a comfortable addi- 
tion to small means. The deacon was cluss (Anglice, close) ; 
yes, he was cluss — all the Pratts are a little given to be cluss ; 
but I don’t know that they are any the worse for it. It is well 
to be curful (careful) of one’s means, which are a trust given to 
us by Divine Providence.” 

In this manner did Mr. Job Pratt often quiet his conscience 
for being as “ curful” of his own as of other persons’ assets. 
Divine Providence, according to his morality, made it as much 
a duty to transfer the dollar that was in his neighbor’s pocket 
to his own, as to watch it vigilantly after the transposition had 
been effected. 

“ A body should be curful, as you say, sir,” returned the 
Widow Martin ; “ and for that reason I should like to know if 
there isn’t a will. I know the deacon set store by me, and I 


478 


THE SEA LIONS. 


can hardly think he has departed for another world without 
bethinking him of his cousin Jenny, and of her widowhood.” 

“I’m afraid he has, Mrs. Martin — really afraid he has. I 
can hear of no will. The doctor says he doubts if the deacon 
could ev^er muster courage to write any thing about his own 
death, and that he has never heard of any will. I understand 
Mary, that she has no knowledge of any will ; and I do not 
know where else to turn, in order to inquire. Rev. Mr. Whit- 
tle thinks there is a will, I ought to say.” 

“ There must be a will,” returned the parson, who was on the 
ground again early, and on this very errand ; “ I feel certain of 
that from the many conversations I have held with the deceased. 
It is not a month since I spoke to him of divers repairs that 
were necessary to each and all of the parish buildings, including 
the parsonage. He agreed to every word I said — admitted 
that we could not get on another winter without a new horse- 
shed ; and that the east end of the parsonage ought to be shin- 
gled this coming summer.” 

“All of which may be very true, parson, without the dea- 
con’s making a will,” quietly, and we may now add 'patiently^ 
observed Mr. Job. 

“ I don’t think so,” returned the minister, with a warmth that 
might have been deemed indiscreet, did it not relate to the 
horse-shed, the parsonage, and the meeting-house, all of which 
were public property, rather than to any thing in which he had 
a more direct legal interest. “ A pious member of the church 
would hardly hold out the hopes that Deacon Pratt has held 
out to me, for more than two years, without meaning to make 
his words good in the end. I think all will agree with me in 
that opinion.” 

“ Did the deacon, then, go so far as to promise to do any 
thing ?” asked Mr. Job, a little timidly ; for he was by no means 
sure the answer might not be in the affirmative, in which case 
he anticipated the worst. 

“ Perhaps not,” answered Minister Whittle, too conscientious 


THE SEA LIONS. 


479 


to tell a downright lie, though sorely tempted so to do. “ But 
a man may promise indirectly, as well as directly. When I 
have a thing much at heart, and converse often about it with a 
person who can grant all I wish, and that person listens as at- 
tentively as I could wish him to do, I regard that as a promise; 
and, in church matters, one of a very solemn nature.” 

All the Jesuits in the world do not get their educations at 
Rome, or acknowledge Ignatius Loyola as the great founder of 
their order. Some are to be found who have never made a 
public profession of their faith and zeal, have never assumed 
the tonsure, or taken the vows. 

“That’s as folks think,” quietly returned Mr. Job Pratt, 
though he smiled in a manner so significant as to cause Mrs. 
Martin a new qualm, as she grew more and more apprehensive 
that the property was, after all, to go by the distribution law. 
“ Some folks think a promise ought to be expressed, while 
others think it may be understood. The law, I believe, com- 
monly looks for the direct expression of any binding promise ; 
and, in matters of this sort, one made in writing, too, and that 
under a seal, and before three responsible witnesses.” 

“ I wish a full inquiry might be made, to ascertain if there 
be no will,” put in the minister, anxiously. 

“ I’m quite willing so to do,” returned Mr. Job, whose confi- 
dence and moral courage increased each instant. “ Quite will- 
ing ; and am rather anxious for it, if I could only see where to 
go to inquire.” 

“ Does no one present know of any .will made by the de- 
ceased ?” demanded Minister Whittle, authoritatively. 

A dead silence succeeded to the question. Eye met eye, and 
there was great disappointment among the numerous collaterals 
present, including all those who did not come in as next of kin, 
or as their direct representatives. But the Rev. Mr. Whittle 
had been too long and too keenly on the scent of a legacy, to 
be thrown out of the hunt, just as he believed the game was 
coming in sight. 


480 


THE SEA LIONS. 


“ It might be well to question each near relative directly,” 
he added. “Mr. Job Pratt, do you know nothing of any 
will?” 

“ Nothing whatever. At one time I did think the deacon 
meant to make his testament ; but I conclude that he must 
have changed his mind.” 

“ And you, Mrs. Thomas,” turning to the sister — “ as next of 
kin, I make the same inquiry of you ?” 

“ I once talked with brother about it,” answered this relative, 
who was working away in a rocking-chair as if she thought the 
earth might stop in its orbit, if she herself ceased to keep in 
motion ; “ but he gave me no satisfactory answer — that is, 
nothin’ that I call satisfactory. Had he told me he had made 
a will, and given me a full shear (share), I should have been 
content ; or, had he told me that he had not made a will, and 
that the law would give me a full shear, I should have been 
content. I look upon myself as a person easily satisfied.” 

This was being explicit, and left little more to be obtained 
from the deacon’s beloved and only surviving sister. 

“ And you, Mary ; do you know any thing of a will made 
by your uncle ?” 

Mary shook her head ; but there was no smile on her fea- 
tures, for the scene was unpleasant to her. 

“ Then no one present knows of any paper that the deacon 
left specially to be opened after his death ?” demanded Rev. Mr. 
Whittle, putting the general question pretty much at random. 

“A paper!” cried Mary, hastily. “Yes, I know something 
of a 'pa'per — I thought you spoke of a will.” 

“ A will is commonly written on paper, now-a-days. Miss 
Mary — but, you have a paper 

“ Uncle gave me a paper ^ and told me to keep it till Roswell 
Gardiner came back ; and, if he himself should not then be 
living, to give it to him. The color now mounted to the very 
temples of the pretty girl, and she seemed to speak with greater 
deliberation and care. “ As I was to give the paper to Ros- 


THE SEA LIONS. 


481 


well, I have always thought it related to him. My uncle spoke 
of it to me as lately as the day of his death.” 

“ That’s the will, beyond a doubt !” cried Rev. Mr. Whittle, 
with more exultation than became his profession and professions. 
“ Do you not think this may be Deacon Pratt’s will. Miss Mary ?” 

Now Mary had never thought any such thing. She knew 
that her uncle much wished her to marry Roswell, and had all 
along fancied that the paper she held, which indeed was con- 
tained in an envelope addressed to her lover, contained some ex- 
pression of his wishes on this to her the most interesting of all 
subjects, and nothing else. Mary Pratt thought very little of 
her uncle’s property, and still less of its future disposition, while 
she thought a great deal of Roswell Gardiner and of his suit. 
It was, consequently, the most natural thing in the world that 
she should have fallen into some such error as this. But, now 
that the subject was brought to her mind in this new light, she 
arose, went to her own room, and soon reappeared with the 
paper in her hand. Both Mr. Job Pratt and Rev. Mr. Whittle 
offered to relieve her of the burden ; and the former, by a 
pretty decided movement, did actually succeed in getting pos- 
session of the documents. The papers were done up in the 
form of a large business letter, which was duly sealed with wax, 
and addressed to “ Mr. Roswell Gardiner, Master of the Schoon- 
er Sea Lion, now absent on a voyage.” The superscription was 
read aloud, a little under the influence of surprise ; notwith- 
standing which, Mr. Job Pratt was very coolly proceeding to 
open the packet, precisely as if it had been addressed to him- 
self. In this decided step, Mrs. Martin, and Mrs. Thomas, and 
Rev. Mr. Whittle, might be set down as accessories before the 
act ; for each approached ; and so eager were the two women, 
that they actually assisted in breaking the seal. 

“ If that letter is addressed to me,” said Roswell Gardiner, 
with firmness and authority, “ I claim the right to open it my- 
self. It is unusual for those to whom a letter is not addressed 
to assume this office.” 


21 


482 


THE SEA LIONS. 


“But, it comes /row Deacon Pratt,” cried the widow Martin, 
“ and may contain his will.” 

“ In which case, a body would think I have some rights con- 
cerned,” said Mr. Job Pratt, a little more coolly, but with man- 
ifest doubts. 

“ Sartain !” put in Mrs. Thomas. “ Brothers and sisters, and 
even cousins, come before strangers, any day. Here w^e are, a 
brother and sister of the deacon, and we ought to have a right 
to read his letters.” 

All this time Roswell had stood with an extended arm, and an 
eye that caused Mr. Job Pratt to control his impatience. Mary ad- 
vanced close to his side, as if to sustain him, but she said nothing. 

“ There is a law, with severe penalties, against knowingly 
opening a letter addressed to another,” resumed Roswell, stead- 
ily ; “ and it shall be enforced against any one who shall pre- 
sume to open one of mine. If that letter has my address, sir, 
I demand it ; and I will have it, at every hazard.” 

Roswell advanced a step nearer Mr. Job Pratt, and the letter 
was reluctantly yielded ; though not until the widow Martin 
had made a nervous but abortive snatch at it. 

“ At any rate, it ought to be opened in our presence,” put in 
this woman, “ that we may see what is in it.” 

“ And by what right, ma’am ? Have I not the privilege of 
others, to read my own letters when and where I please ? If 
the contents of this, however, do really relate to the late 
Deacon Pratt’s property, I am quite willing they should be 
made known. There is nothing on this superscription to tell 
me to open/he packet in the presence of witnesses; but, under 
all the circumstances, I prefer it should be done.” 

Hereupon Roswell proceeded deliberately to look into the 
package. The seal was already broken, and he exhibited it in 
that state to all in the room, with a meaning smile, after which 
he brought to light and opened some written instrument, that 
was engrossed on a single sheet of foolscap, and had the names 
of several witnesses at its bottom. 


THE SEA LIONS. 


483 


“ Ay, ay, that’s it,” said Baiting Joe, for the room was 
crowded with all sorts of people ; “ that’s the doclverment. 1 
know’d it as soon as I laid eyes on it !” 

“ And what do you know about it, Josy ?” demanded the 
widow, eagerly. “ Cousin Job, this man may turn out a most 
important and considerable witness !” 

“ What do I know, Mrs. Martin ? Why I seed the deacon 
sign for the seals, and exercute. As soon as I heard Squire 
Craft, who was down here from Riverhead on that ’ere very 
business, talk so much about seals, I know’d Captain Gar’ner 
must have suthin’ to do with the matter. The deacon’s very 
heart was in the schooner and her v’y’ge, and I think it was the 
craft that finished him, in the end.” 

“Won’t that set aside a codicil, cousin Job, if so be the dea- 
con has r’ally codicilled off Captain Gar’ner and Mary ?” 

“ We shall see, we shall see. So you was present, Josy, at 
the making of a will ?” 

“ Sartain — and was a witness to the insterment, as the squire 
called it. I s’pose he sent for me to be a witness, as I am some 
acquainted with the sealin’ business, having made two v’y’ges 
out of Stunnin’tun, many years since. Ay, ay ; that’s the in- 
sterment, and pretty well frightened was the deacon when he 
put his name to it, I can tell you !” 

“ Frightened !” echoed the brother — “ that’s ag’in law, at any 
rate. The instrument that a man signs because he’s frightened, 
is no instrument at all, in law. As respects a will, it is what 
we justices of the peace call ‘ dies non,’ or, don’t die ; that is, 
in law.” 

“ Can that be so, Squire Job ?” asked the sister, who had 
said but little hitherto, but had thought all the more. 

“ Yes, that’s Latin, I s’pose, and good Latin, too, they tell 
me. A man may be dead in the fiesh, but living in law.” 

“ La ! how cur’ous ! Law is a wonderful thing, to them 
that understands it.” 

The worthy Afrs. Thomas expressed a much more profound 


484 


THE SEA LIONS. 


sentiment than that of which she was probably aware, herself. 
Law is a wonderful thing, and most wonderful is he who can 
tell what it is to-day, or is likely to be to-morrow. The law 
of testamentary devises, in particular, has more than the usual 
uncertainty, the great interest that is taken by the community 
in the large estates of certain individuals who are placed with- 
out the ordinary social categories by the magnitude of their 
fortunes, preventing any thing from becoming absolutely set- 
tled, as respects them. In Turkey, and in America, the pos- 
session of great wealth is very apt to ruin their possessors ; 
proscription, in some form or other, being pretty certain to be 
the consequences. In Turkey, such has long and openly been 
the fact, the bow-string usually lying at the side of the strong 
box ; but, in this country, the system is in its infancy, though 
advancing towards maturity with giant strides. Twenty years 
more, resembling the twenty that are just past, in which the 
seed recently sown broadcast shall have time to reach maturity, 
and, in our poor opinion, the great work of demoralization, in 
this important particular, will be achieved. We are much 
afraid that the boasted progress, of which we hear so much, 
will resemble the act of the man who fancied he could teach 
his horse to live without food — ^just as he believed the poor 
beast was perfect, it died of inanition ! 

Roswell read Baiting Joe’s “ insterment” twice, and then he 
placed it, with manly tenderness, in the hands of Mary. The 
girl read the document, too, tears starting to her eyes ; but, a 
bright flush suffused her face, as she returned the will to her 
lover. 

“ Ah ! do not read it now, Roswell,” she said, in an under- 
tone ; but the stillness and expectation were so profound, that 
every syllable she uttered was heard by all in the room. 

“ And why not read it now. Miss Mary !” cried the Widow 
Martin. “ Methinks now is the proper time to read it. If I’m 
to be codicilled out of that will, I want to know it.” 

“ It is better, in every i-espect, that the company present 


THE SEA LIONS. 


485 


should know all that is to be known, at once,” observed Mr. 
J oh Pratt. “ Before the will is read, if that he the will. Cap- 
tain Gar’ner — ” 

“ It is the will of the late Deacon Pratt, duly signed, sealed, 
and witnessed, I believe, sir.” 

“ One word more, then, before it is read. I think you said, 
Josy, that the deceased was frightened when he signed that 
will? I do not express any opinion until I hear the will; 
perhaps a’ter it is read, I shall think or say nothin’ about this 
fright ; though the instrument that a man signs because he is 
frightened, if the fright be what I call a legal fright, is no in- 
strument at all.” 

“ But such was not the deacon’s case. Squire Job,” put in 
Baiting Joe, at once. “ He did not sign the insterment because 
he was frightened, but was frightened because he signed the 
insterment. Let the boat go right eend foremost, squire.” 

“ Read the will. Captain Gar’ner, if you have it,” said Mr. 
Job Pratt, with decision. “ It is proper that we should know 
who is executor. Friends, will you be silent for a moment ?” 

Amid a death-like stillness, Roswell Gardiner now read as 
follows : 

“ In the name of God, amen. I, Ichabod Pratt, of the town 
of Southold, and county of Suffolk, and State of New York, 
being of failing bodily health, but of sound mind, do make and 
declare this to be my last will and testament. 

“ I bequeath to my niece, Mary Pratt, only child of my late 
brother, Israel Pratt, all my real estate, whatsoever it may be, 
and wheresoever situate, to be held by her, her heirs, and as- 
signs, forever, in fee. 

“ I bequeath to my brother. Job Pratt, any horse of which I 
shall die possessed, to be chosen by himself, as a compensation 
for the injury inflicted on a horse of his, while in my use. 

“ I bequeath to my sister, Jane Thomas, the large looking- 
glass that is hanging up in the east bedroom of my house, and 
which was once the property of our beloved mother. 


486 


THE SEA LIONS. 


I 

j. 


“ I bequeath to the widow Catherine Martin, my cousin, the 
big pin-cushion in the said east chamber, which she used so 
much to praise and admire. 

“ I bequeath to my said niece, Mary Pratt, the only child of 
my late brother, Israel Pratt, aforesaid, all of my personal es- 
tate, whether in possession or existing in equity, including 
money at use, vessels, stock on farm, all other sorts of stock, 
furniture, wearing apparel, book-debts, money in hand, and all 
sorts of personal property whatever. 

“ I nominate and appoint Koswell Gardiner, now absent on 
a sealing voyage, in my employment, as the sole executor of 
this my last will, provided he return home within six months of 
my decease ; and should he not return home within the said 
six months, then I appoint my above-mentioned niece and 
heiress, Mary Pratt, the sole executrix of this my will. 

“ I earnestly advise my said niece, Mary Pratt, to marry the 
said Roswell Gardiner ; but I annex no conditions whatever to 
this advice, wishing to leave my adopted daughter free to do 
as she may think best.” 

The instrument was, in all respects, duly executed, and there 
could not be a doubt of its entire validity. Mary felt a little 
bewildered, as well as greatly embarrassed. So perfectly dis- 
interested had been all her care of her uncle, and so humble 
her wishes, that she did not for some time regard herself as the 
owner of a property that she had all her life been accustomed 
to consider as a part of her late uncle. The heirs expectant, 
“a’ter reading the insterment,” as Baiting Joe told his cronies, 
when he related the circumstances over a mug of cider that 
evening, “ fore and aft, and overhauling it from truck to keel- 
son, give the matter up, as a bad job. They couldn’t make 
nawthin’ out of oppersition,” continued Joe, “ and so they tuck 
the horse, and the looking-glass, and the pin-cushion, and 
cleared out with their cargo. You couldn’t get one of that 
breed to leave as much as a pin behind, to which he thought 
the law would give him a right. Squire Job went off very un- 


THE SEA LIONS. 


487 


willingly ; for so strong was his belief in his claim, that he had 
made up his mind, as he told me himself, to break up the north 
meadow, and put it in corn this coming season.” 

“ They say that Minister Whittle took it very hard that 
nawthin’ was said about him, or about meetin’, in the deacon’s 
will,” observed Jake Davis, one of Baiting Joe’s cronies. 

“ That he did ; and he tuck it so hard that everybody allows 
the two sermons he preached the next Sabba’ day to be the 
very two worst he ever did preach.” 

“ They must have been pretty bad, then, quaintly observed 
Davis ; “ I’ve long set down Minister Whittle’s discourses as 
being a leetle the worst going, when you give him a chance.” 

It is unnecessary to relate any more of this dialogue, nor 
should we have given the little we have, did it not virtually ex- 
plain what actually occurred on the publication of the contents 
of the will. Roswell met with no opposition in proving tbe 
instrument ; and the day after he was admitted to act as execu- 
tor he was married to Mary Pratt, and became tenant, by the 
courtesy, to all her real estate ; such being the law then^ 
though it is so no longer. Wow, a man and his wife may have 
a very pretty family quarrel about the ownership of a dozen 
teaspoons, and the last, so far as we can see, may order the 
first out of one of her rocking-chairs, if she see fit ! Surely do- 
mestic peace is not so trifling a matter that the law should 
seek to add new subjects of strife to the many that seem to be 
nearly inseparable from the married state. 

Let this be as it may, no such law existed when Roswell 
Gardiner and Mary Pratt became man and wife. One of the 
first acts of the happy young couple, after they were united, 
was to make a suitable disposition of the money found buried 
at the foot of the tree, on the so-much-talked-of key. Its 
amount was a little more than two thousand dollars ; the pirate 
who made the revelation to Daggett having, in all probability, 
been ignorant himself of the real sum that had been thus se- 

O 

creted. By a specific bargain with the crew, all this money 


488 


THE SEA LIONS. 


belonged to tbe deacon ; and, consequently, it had descended 
to his niece, and through her was now legally the property of 
Roswell. The young man was not altogether free from scru- 
ples about using money that had been originally taken as 
booty by pirates, and his conscientious wife had still greater 
objections. After conferring together on the subject, how- 
ever, and seeing the impossibility of restoring the gold to 
those from whom it had been forced in the first place, the 
doubloons were distributed among the families of those who 
had lost their lives at Sealer’s Land. The shares did not 
amount to much, it is true, but they did good, and cheered the 
hearts of two or three widows and dependent sisters. 

Nor did Roswell Gardiner’s care for their welfare stop here. 
He had the Sea Lion put in good order, removed her decks, 
raised upon her, and put her in her original condition, and 
sent her to Sealer’s Land again, under the orders of Hazard, 
who was instructed to take in all the oil and skins that had 
been left behind, and to fill up, if he could, without risking too 
much by delay. All this was successfully done, the schooner 
coming back after a very short voyage, and quite full. The 
money made by this highly successful adventure had the effect 
to console several of those who had great cause to regret their 
previous losses. 

As to Roswell and Mary, they had much reason to be con- 
tent with their lot. The deacon’s means were found to be 
much more considerable than had been supposed. When all 
was brought into a snug state, Roswell found that his wife was 
worth more than thirty thousand dollars, a sum which consti- 
tuted w^ealth on Oyster Pond in that day. We have, how- 
ever, already hinted that the simplicity, and we fear with it 
the happiness, of the place has departed. A railroad terminates 
within a short distance of the deacon’s old residence, bringing 
with it the clatter, ambition, and rivalry of such a mode of 
travelling. What is even worse, the venerable and expressive 
name of “ Oyster Pond,” one that conveys in its very sound the 


THE SEA LIONS. 


489 


idea of savory dishes, and an abundance of a certain and a very 
agreeable sort, has been changed to “ Orient,” Heaven save the 
mark ! Long Island has hitherto been famous, in the history 
of New York, for the homely piquancy of its names, which 
usually conveyed a graphic idea of the place indicated. It is 
true, “Jerusalem” cannot boast of its Solomon’s Temple, nor 
“ Babylon” of its Hanging Gardens ; but, by common consent, 
it is understood that these two names, and some half-a-dozen 
more of the same quality, are to be taken by their opposites. 

Roswell Gardiner did not let Stimson pass out of his sight, 
as is customary with seamen when they quit a vessel. He 
made him master of a sloop that plied between New York and 
Southold, in which employment the good old man fulfilled his 
time, leaving to a widowed sister who dwelt with him the 
means of a comfortable livelihood for life. 

The only bit of management of which Mary could be 
accused, was practised by her shortly after Stim son’s death, 
and some six or eight years after her own marriage. One of 
her school friends, and a relative, had married a person who 
dwelt “ west of the bridge,” as it is the custom to say of all the 
counties that lie west of Cayuga Lake. This person, whose 
name was Hight, had mills, and made large quantities of that 
excellent flour that is getting to enjoy iti merited reputation 
even in the Old World. He was disposed to form a partner- 
ship with Roswell, who sold his property and migrated to the 
great West, as the country “west of the bridge” was then 
termed, though it is necessary now to go a thousand miles 
farther in order to reach what is termed “the western coun- 
try.” Mary had an important agency in bringing about this 
migration. She had seen certain longings after the ocean, and 
seals, and whales, in her husband ; and did not consider him 
safe so long as he could scent the odors of a salt marsh. There 
is delight in this fragrance that none can appreciate so thor- 
oughly as those who have enjoyed it in youth : it remains as 
lonff as human senses retain their faculties. An increasing 

21 ^ 


490 


THE SEA LIONS. 


family, however, and el dorado of the West, which, in that day, 
produced wheat, were inducements for a removal there, and, 
aided by Mary’s gentle management, produced the desired 
effect ; and for more than twenty years Roswell Gardiner has 
been a very successful miller, on a large scale, in one of the 
western counties of what is called “ the Empire State.” We 
do not think the sobriquets of this country very happy, in gen- 
eral, but shall quarrel less with this than with the phrase of 
“ commercial emporium,” which is much as if one should say 
“ a townish town.” 

Roswell Gardiner has never wavered in his faith, from the 
time when his feelings were awakened by the just view of his 
own insignificance, as compared to the power of God. He 
then learned the first great lesson in religious belief, that of 
humility; without which no man can be truly penitent, or 
truly a Christian. He no longer thought of measuring the 
Deity with his narrow faculties, or of setting up his blind con- 
clusions, in the face of positive revelations. He saw that all 
must be accepted, or none ; and there was too much evidence, 
too much inherent truth, a morality too divine, to allow a 
mind like his to reject the gospel altogether. With Mary at 
his side, he has continued to worship the Trinity, accepting its 
mysteries in an humble reliance on the words of inspired men. 


THE END. 



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